The NBA thread

[Stoney Mason]

I just think Lebron invites this sort of analysis from basketball writers. There always has to be some extra layer after he loses. "He needs to support the coach more". Really? That's what comes out of this season. In a league where superstar players past and present often conflict with their coach and in fact have forced coaching changes behind the scenes. Like MJ and Magic. Hell Phil Jackson and Kobe couldn't stand each other by the end of their first run.

I mean outside of known knuckleheads would this article be written about any player in the league after they just dragged a group of also-rans to the finals?

It just seems like there is always this extra layer of analysis with events regarding him that don't seem to be there for other superstars. Which is not to pretend that Lebron is some kind of saint or something. He's not. But it doesn't mean that you (writers I mean) need to turn everything into drama central with heroes and villains.

[benjipwns]

Phil's written a whole bunch of books and articles in which he discussed how Jordan would ignore him, break plays, refusing to sub out, etc.

None of which mattered in the end because the Bulls didn't waste their time throwing up three pointers like a bunch of goobers.

[Stoney Mason]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Season:_A_Team_in_Search_of_Its_Soul

Is basically a hate letter directed at Kobe. Didn't stop them from winning or even getting back together again when the situation was right. These relationships are always more complex than "Be like Tim Duncan".

[benjipwns]

That's because Kobe is the type of person who is willing to put ego aside, listen to a leader and sacrifice personal goals in order to win. Until LeBron learns any of that and develops a relationship with his coaches he'll never win a title on his own.

[benjipwns]

Sixers getting new uniforms again too:

[Am_I_Anonymous]

That's because Kobe is the type of person who is willing to put ego aside, listen to a leader and sacrifice personal goals in order to win. Until LeBron learns any of that and develops a relationship with his coaches he'll never win a title on his own.

Kobe puts his ego aside? He chased Shaq out of town and is the #1 reason nobody wanted to play there in their primes. Gasol was miserable so don't even try to say that shit.

Be right on sports just once please, just once....

[benjipwns]

[Kerr] also received a text from former Spurs teammate Tim Duncan that read, "It's that easy, huh?"

[Mandark]

Kobe puts his ego aside? He chased Shaq out of town and is the #1 reason nobody wanted to play there in their primes. Gasol was miserable so don't even try to say that shit.

Be right on sports just once please, just once....

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Who can tell with that fucktard? His gimmick is tired.

[Mandark]

Is this another "all white posters look the same to me" moment, like when you yelled at BrandNew for hating LeBron?

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Is this another "all white posters look the same to me" moment, like when you yelled at BrandNew for hating LeBron?

 

[TakingBackSunday]

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/3adv99/cleveland_cavaliers_offseason_faq/

Nice little post on reddit going over all the things the Cavs have to do in the off-season relative to the their roster.

[ToxicAdam]

16 mil a year for Tristan.

[Stoney Mason]

Yeah, I wouldn't pay that. That is one of those cases where I would tell Lebron and his agent to f off. It's more a principle thing. Dude is a good nba player. But he's not near max good. Or at least I don't see it at this point. Maybe I'm wrong.

[TakingBackSunday]

13 mil seems reasonable for him

[Stoney Mason]

He already turned down 4 years at 52 million. So he's going to presumably want more than that, so at that point you are at the max.

[Stoney Mason]

Cavs have the opposite problem the heat had during Lebron's days. They have too many bigs as opposed to too few.

[TakingBackSunday]

I liked seeing a comment from the OP in that thread...let Love walk and maybe get Ariza and someone like Splitter.  Lets Lebron rest more.  Starting lineup a cool hybrid small/big lineup:

Kyrie, Shump, Lebron, Thompson, Mozgov

Backups:

Backup point guard, JR, Ariza, Splitter

Then Joe Harris, James Jones, corpses

[ToxicAdam]

You can't rely on Andy to stay healthy, so they kind of have no choice but to carry one too many.

[TakingBackSunday]

completely forgot about Sideshow Bob 

[Am_I_Anonymous]

16 mil a year for Tristan.

Laugh all you want, somebody is going to pay that.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

I liked seeing a comment from the OP in that thread...let Love walk and maybe get Ariza and someone like Splitter.  Lets Lebron rest more.  Starting lineup a cool hybrid small/big lineup:

Kyrie, Shump, Lebron, Thompson, Mozgov

Backups:

Backup point guard, JR, Ariza, Splitter

Then Joe Harris, James Jones, corpses

I wouldn't mind that lineup at all. I'm all for letting love walk but I don't think he will. I'd rather get a 2 over Splitter though. We need another guy to stretch the floor and shump just cant do that.


Middleton or Matthews would work nicely.

Unless the plan is to get Love to walk and pick up D Wade. Which I would laugh at but stranger things have happened

Kyrie
Wade
Lebron
Thompson
Mozgov

Backup PG (Likely as part of Haywood's expiring contract)
Varejo
Shump
JR
Jones

[Stoney Mason]

Former 76ers coach Larry Brown has been lobbying Philadelphia to hire Iverson as an assistant GM, and Iverson fully supports the move: "I have a sharp mind when it comes to that look, being able to look into somebody's eyes to tell if they are going to be in the foxhole with you tonight or if they are not." (via Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Former 76ers coach Larry Brown has been lobbying Philadelphia to hire Iverson as an assistant GM, and Iverson fully supports the move: "I have a sharp mind when it comes to that look, being able to look into somebody's eyes to tell if they are going to be in the foxhole with you tonight or if they are not." (via Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

 

[ToxicAdam]

Move over stat-nerds, 'Foxhole eyes' is the new PER.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Move over stat-nerds, 'Foxhole eyes' is the new PER.

To be fair you're gonna need a few foxholes as bad as that squad gets shelled every damn night.


I'm sure he'd be a hell of a motivational speaker to a lazy fuck like last years first round draft pick...

[jakefromstatefarm]

Sixers getting new uniforms again too:
(Image removed from quote.)

I like these, the old ones were boring

did the new Bucks unis get posted?


new logo too:

[Human Snorenado]

...Milwaukee has an NBA team???

Next you're going to tell me Sacramento has one too. STOP LYING.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

...Milwaukee has an NBA team???

Next you're going to tell me Sacramento has one too. STOP LYING.

I hardly think someone from Atlanta has much room to talk. You draw less people for an NBA game than I do for a cookout.

[Human Snorenado]

Atlanta is widely known as the city too busy to give a shit about our sports teams... unless it's UGA, which is funny because 1) the university isn't even in the fucking city and 2) like maybe 10% of all of these "diehard Bulldogs fans" actually fucking went to UGA, but whatever.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

Too busy doing what exactly? Embracing white flight and shooting each other? I mean really, Atlanta is a shithole.

[Human Snorenado]

Too busy doing what exactly? Embracing white flight and shooting each other? I mean really, Atlanta is a shithole.

City's kind of turned around in the last 5 years; plenty of in town neighborhoods getting gentrified.

But, yes, it's still a shithole, just a different kind of shithole now.

[Phoenix Dark]

Atlanta is widely known as the city too busy to give a shit about our sports teams... unless it's UGA, which is funny because 1) the university isn't even in the fucking city and 2) like maybe 10% of all of these "diehard Bulldogs fans" actually fucking went to UGA, but whatever.

ATL doesn't love Matty Ice?!?!

[Human Snorenado]

Atlanta is widely known as the city too busy to give a shit about our sports teams... unless it's UGA, which is funny because 1) the university isn't even in the fucking city and 2) like maybe 10% of all of these "diehard Bulldogs fans" actually fucking went to UGA, but whatever.

ATL doesn't love Matty Ice?!?!

Real talk- the Falcons are sometimes the 3rd most popular football team in town, behind UGA and sometimes Tech.

[Phoenix Dark]

Heh I'm trollin. Gotta support fellow fans of teams with over-rated, middle tier QBs who get paid too much money.


Georgia thought last year was gonna be The year, too. Damn.

[Stoney Mason]

 

[benjipwns]

Chad Ford just moved Isaiah up to #3 on his 2022 Draft big board.

[benjipwns]

Also, George Karl needs to come to terms with and embrace the Boogie three point bombing.

[benjipwns]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/sports/basketball/phil-jackson-nba-draft-knicks-carmelo-anthony.html?ref=sports

On the afternoon of May 19, Phil Jackson, the president of the Knicks, met with Steve Mills, his general manager, at the team’s practice complex here. Mills had a couple of hours before he was expected to report to a Midtown Manhattan hotel, where he would represent the team at the N.B.A.’s annual draft lottery.

As they discussed their usual daily business — everything from the playoffs to potential prospects in the draft — Jackson kept folding a piece of paper until it formed a neat, tiny square. He finally presented it to Mills, who opened it to reveal a series of numbers, which Mills presumed were the team’s odds for landing various picks in the lottery.

“But they were the wrong odds,” Mills said. “They were the odds from a different year.”

The message from Jackson was essentially that the numbers did not matter, that everything that would happen at the lottery was beyond their control. The team would move forward regardless. Or at least that was what Mills thought Jackson meant.

“Phil’s not just cryptic on Twitter,” Mills said. “He’s cryptic with me, too, sometimes.”

...

“I have a definite idea about how I want a team to look and what kind of skills the players need to have,” said Jackson, who remains as wedded as ever to the triangle offense. “When everybody else says, ‘Well, this might be their best pick,’ we’re not going that way at all. We’re going with what we feel will be the best player for us at this particular time.”

...

Q. Do you anticipate players being resistant to the idea of running the triangle?

JACKSON Players who are resistant to it shouldn’t be here. Guys who want to play basketball and feel comfortable with their skills should understand that there is ample opportunity to play a game that’s an evolved game. It’s a thinking man’s game. It’s a logical game.

JACKSON We’re trying to find players who are the best fit for us. We’re really chasing as much information as we can. We’re not interested in guys who are just interested in the money and in their branding. They have to have a little more to their life than just those selfish desires. There’s nothing wrong with chasing money, and there’s nothing wrong with making the most from your name. But that seems to be the running theme that you see a lot these days.

...

Q. Have you spoken to Isiah Thomas since he was hired to run the Liberty?

JACKSON Yeah, Isiah came in my office. I was on the phone, but I was able to shake his hand. And there have been a number of times when we’ve just bumped into each other here in the cafeteria. We talked about the playoffs, about his team. He seems to be happy doing his job, and that’s about it.

...

Q. In the middle of the playoffs, you took to Twitter to ask N.B.A. analysts to give you “some diagnostics” on how 3-point-oriented teams were faring. It struck most as a criticism of teams like the Warriors who take a lot of 3-point shots. You asked, “How’s it goink?” What was that about?

JACKSON They have all these analysts. I just wanted to see someone come back to me with statistics: Is 3-point shooting in the playoffs as consistent as it is in the regular season? Does your 3-point-shooting percentage change because you’re in the playoffs? No one figured that one out. And that’s probably me being obtuse to leave it open at the end. But “goink” is one of those New York expressions that we use, and I will tell you this: I learned something. Someone sent me the fact that if you look it up on Urban Dictionary, you’ll find out what it means in today’s society.

Q. Should I look?

JACKSON Well, it’s rather bizarre to say the least.

Q. So it wasn’t just a typo?

JACKSON “Goink” is a castoff expression, right? Instead of, “How’s it going?” it’s “How’s it goink?” It turned out to be either a combination of a mixed ethnic group: part Korean, part Chinese. Or it’s a vernacular term for how do you deal with a sexual partner.

Q. That was not your intention though?

JACKSON No, I had no idea.

...

JACKSON I knew it was going to be a challenge. We just didn’t have any room to work last year. We knew that we were going to have to make big changes with the limitations that we had, being in a locked-in situation as far as the salary cap goes. That’s why when I said recently that I didn’t know why I wasn’t given some votes for executive of the year, I wasn’t kidding. I was really serious. We had a yeoman’s job of having to get rid of a lot of fat on our roster to get to where we are. I saw Mitch Kupchak got a vote, so I know some people valued what the Lakers were doing obviously.

[Great Rumbler]

Someone sent me the fact that if you look it up on Urban Dictionary, you’ll find out what it means in today’s society.

So, I went to Urban Dictionary:

A person that's half Korean and half Chinese. The term comes from Gook (a derogatory term for Koreans) and Chink (a derogatory term for Chinese or Asians in general).

To jerk off/ masturbate. Can be used for both males and females.

To place both your balls in a partners mouth, then repeatedly slap their nose with your tumescent penis in a vigorous manner, preferably whilst waving your other arm in the air.

 

[Beezy]

Really hoping Phil isn't as out of touch as he seems.

[Stoney Mason]

I like how he rails against guys who want to get paid and are about branding when Carmelo Anthony is playing for them.

[benjipwns]

Since the only people who even a slightest interest in him are in here: HBO apparently is going after Simmons

[Stoney Mason]

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/13131159/los-angeles-lakers-actively-trying-acquire-demarcus-cousins-trade-sacramento-kings

[TakingBackSunday]

Lakers want Wade and Cousins?

Cousins wins that ffs

[Phoenix Dark]

https://twitter.com/SLAMonline/status/613084235851694080

[TakingBackSunday]

good christ

[Stoney Mason]

They won't but I would love it if they did. Moment of the year.

[Beezy]

They won't but I would love it if they did. Moment of the year.

Please don't wish this on me.

[naff]

They won't but I would love it if they did. Moment of the year.

same. nothing against nyc, but the weird band wagon fans here piss me off, why they riding this shit organisations dicc i'll never know. i think it's just a big org in a 'cool' city and they like rooting for the underdog they have faith will be triumphant one day. bwahahaha.

always happy to see them continue to be miserable.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

http://deadspin.com/george-karl-apparently-wants-demarcus-cousins-gone-is-1713331277

Karl has been recruiting Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and multiple players on the Kings’ roster to unite with him in making the case to owner Vivek Ranadive that Cousins needs to be traded, league sources said.

Since the end of the 2014-15 season, Cousins has become aware of Karl’s campaign to move him – including teammates telling Cousins, sources said. All around the Kings and Cousins, there is a growing belief the coach-player relationship is irreparable. Trust is a constant theme with Cousins, and he’s been unable to build any with Karl, sources said.

No one in the Sacramento organization – not coaches, nor players, nor support staff – wants to imagine the combustible scenario awaiting Karl and Cousins should the Kings try to reunite them in training camp.

[TakingBackSunday]

wow, fuck Karl

Cousins should WANT to be traded at this point

[Am_I_Anonymous]

wow, fuck Karl

Cousins should WANT to be traded at this point

Trade away the undisputed best center in the league for donuts brehs.

Good for Cousins though, putting him on the Lakers means he'll finally get the respect he deserves.

[TakingBackSunday]

I kind of love LA for him, honestly.

Clarkson, Kobe, Johnson, Randle, Cousins

 

very interesting lineup...assuming Randle wouldn't be traded away

[Am_I_Anonymous]

I kind of love LA for him, honestly.

Clarkson, Kobe, Johnson, Randle, Cousins

 

very interesting lineup...assuming Randle wouldn't be traded away

Nah to get him Randle would have to go.

I think the lineup will end up being

Rondo
Kobe
Johnson
Who cares
Cousins

To be honest.

[TakingBackSunday]

  not giving daps to Clarkson.  Dude had a great season last year

[Am_I_Anonymous]

not giving daps to Clarkson.  Dude had a great season last year

No I like the guy but I think it's pretty much a forgone conclusion that Rondo ends up in LA

[TakingBackSunday]

Man I hope not.  Rondo doesn't deserve a starting gig anymore.  If he does end up in LA, he should be used in the deal to acquire Cousins and send Rondo to the Kings just to make Bill Simmons Rondo-to-Kings timeline come true.  That way Lakers could maybe keep Randle.

[Brehvolution]

THe Iverson doc on HBO(?) was pretty good. I forgot how much shit he went through and put on himself.