The NBA thread

[pilonv1]

I dont know why Salmons gets any minutes if Outlaw is going to play too. Mbah a Moute should be starting if they want to start Thornton.

[TakingBackSunday]

Miami gets beat again.

This entire season is gonna be an epic coast.


Pacers 7-0. Kinda rooting for them to win the title to be honest. I think I like every single player in their rotation.

I see you've already started your concern trolling 

This season doesn't mean a thing until the All-Star break.

[Stoney Mason]

Miami gets beat again.

This entire season is gonna be an epic coast.


Pacers 7-0. Kinda rooting for them to win the title to be honest. I think I like every single player in their rotation.

I see you've already started your concern trolling 

This season doesn't mean a thing until the All-Star break.

I don't give a shit about Miami in the regular season so screw concern trolling. In fact I'll state it and go on record as I'm rooting for Indiana to win it this year. Miami is a boring team to watch partially because I've seen so many of their games over the last two seasons. I'm happy for Lebron. I'm glad he got his two titles. I hope he wins more in the future. He's still individually my favorite player in the league. I'm glad he shoved it in the faces of all those idiots who were but hurt about the decision. Or his marketing or any of the other weird stuff sports nerds fixate on. But I don't have an overwhelming burning desire to root for them this season as they've already got two titles and the case has been made. I'm not rooting against them. I just have switched my bandwagon.

So go Indy!

[TakingBackSunday]

but I thought you were always a Miami fan?

[Phoenix Dark]

but I thought you were always a Miami fan?

there's no such thing as an always Miami fan
 

[Stoney Mason]

but I thought you were always a Miami fan?

I live in Florida so I'm always slightly partial to the Heat and the Magic but neither of them are my home town so I don't have slavish devotion to either franchise. Lebron has been my favorite player in the league since he came in though so him going to Miami was like the cherry on top.

Like I said I'm not rooting against Miami. I just really like Indiana. I've always liked David West. Hibbert is a defensive beast and fun to watch because of that. Paul George is the kind of player I like. A tall versatile do everything kind of player. A poor man's Lebron in a way. I like Scola.

They have issues. They aren't a good offensive team. But I like the way the team is constructed. It really makes sense.

It's just boring to watch and follow Miami at this stage because rightfully so, the regular season is meaningless to them because of the stage they are in with their dynasty. I'd rather follow a team that is still hungry. That was what was fun watching the last two seasons of Miami. They were flawed but very hungry. Even last season that streak sort of rejuvenated them and made the regular season worth caring about.

[Stoney Mason]

This might really turn into an ugly season for the Knicks.

Bargnani plays 26 minutes today. Pulls down 1 rebound.

Amare is declining fast.

[TakingBackSunday]

I love Paul George too but I'm not rooting for them to do shit.  Need that 3-peat

Just jump on the Warriors bandwagon like everyone on the internet has.  I know I have!

[etiolate]

shouldn't you be rooting for kyrie?

brandnew loves anything that leaves him

[TakingBackSunday]

I am rooting for Kyrie!  I have the Cavs as the 8 seed this year for the East...although looking at Bennett and Bynum, doesn't look like they're gonna be able to get there unless Kyrie just Uncle Drew's the entire season.

Kyrie is my favorite point guard in the league, but he has to play for the Cavs 

[Stoney Mason]

at LeBron being anyone's favorite player.

[TakingBackSunday]

at Kobe being anyone's favorite player.

ftfy.

lebron never raped anyone

[Phoenix Dark]

at Kobe being anyone's favorite player.

ftfy.

lebron never raped anyone

what about

[TakingBackSunday]

he uses comic sans ; he has raped more people than all the players in the nba combined

[Stoney Mason]

Current PER's


Kendrick Perkins: 5.69
Derrick Rose: 5.30

 

[etiolate]

"Retirement was a thought, it was a serious thought. It still is," Bynum, 26, said after Cavs' practice at Temple University. "It's tough to enjoy the game because of how limited I am physically. I'm working through that. Every now and again I do [think about retirement]. … It's still career-threatening. I'm a shell of myself on the court right now. I'm just struggling mentally."

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9942913/andrew-bynum-cleveland-cavaliers-pondering-career

damn

[pilonv1]

always gonna be Mynum

[etiolate]

I dont know why Salmons gets any minutes if Outlaw is going to play too. Mbah a Moute should be starting if they want to start Thornton.

Mbah a Moute has been coming back from injury. The three guys they brought in to not be heroball guys were all injured in preseason. Vasquez is still a bit off from his foot injury. Mbah a Moute is now just coming back and Landry is months away. So guys like Salmon and Thornton are seeing serious time.

[Stoney Mason]

Boston is 4-4. Obviously too early to mean anything but most people thought this team would be god awful wretched.

[Mandark]

Besides the big win over Miami, the other three have come against two teams that were also expected to be tanking.

But yeah, out of that group only Utah hasn't shown signs of life yet.

[TakingBackSunday]

Rudy Gay:

11-37

29 points

[etiolate]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

called goaltending >|

[close]

[Flannel Boy]

Rudy Gay:

11-37

29 points

Stolen from realgm: "Rudy & Demar taking 44% of team FGAs and missing 64% of them."

Turrible.

[Phoenix Dark]

(Image removed from quote.)

spoiler (click to show/hide)

called goaltending >|

[close]

When will David Stern leave the Kings alone.

[TakingBackSunday]

Jeremy Lin had a big game last night

spoiler (click to show/hide)

against the raptors

[close]

I like what they've tried the last two games.  Run the offense through Lin, then if plays break down, Harden iso.  Sure, lotta fuckball, but when Lin can bring about and execute plays, (and Harden, you know, listens), this should be a pretty efficient offensive team.

[benjipwns]

[El Babua]

A look back at the greatest basketball game of our generation:

http://screen.yahoo.com/sketchy/30-30-space-jam-game-155008766.html

[Stoney Mason]

ESPN Searching For A Few Loud-Mouthed Fucks For New Afternoon Program
SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF • Sports • News Media • ISSUE 49•46 • Nov 11, 2013


BRISTOL, CT—Saying that the program will further strengthen their afternoon lineup, officials at ESPN announced Monday that the network has started searching for a few loud-mouthed fucks to host a new sports talk show. “We’re looking for three, maybe four absolutely reprehensible, know-it-all fucks to sit around a table and share their idiotic opinions about the day’s biggest sports stories,” said ESPN’s vice president of original programming Jamie Horowitz, adding that ideally, the obnoxious, pig-headed pieces of shit will be a mix of annoying national sports columnists, repulsive former athletes, and one prick from Boston.

“We’ll just throw some bullshit on one side of the screen while our panel of arrogant fucking assholes scream at each other. The whole debate—if you can even call it that—will be moderated by either another loud-mouthed fuck or an attractive female broadcaster. We feel this show will really complement our other programs on ESPN and perform particularly well in the 4 p.m. time slot.” At press time, ESPN confirmed that producers had started narrowing down their initial pool of 14,000 potential candidates for the show.

[Phoenix Dark]

Anyone else watch the Duke/Kansas game? Parker v Wiggins.

both look great tonight

[Smooth Groove]

I watched it

First college game I've seen in years

I found Wiggins a bit underwhelming.  Vitale kept talking about Wiggin's explosiveness but he was getting floaters in situations where Lebron would have been getting dunks or layups right at the rim. 

Physically, Wiggins seems closer to a Paul George than a Lebron or even Vince Carter, which is still great but not quite the freak of nature that he was hyped up to be.  He could definitely be a superstar but it's no guarantee. 

Parker was definitely the more polished player of the two.  He has an old man's game, kinda like Pierce/Harden/Melo.  Great touch around the basket and from deep.  His athleticism is only average though, maybe even less than the aforementioned players.   
 

[Beezy]

Jabari Parker... hearing Vitale repeat my first name over and over was awkward.

[Phoenix Dark]

Wiggins doesn't look dominant although he had a great game last night. Whereas Parker passes the eyeball test for me: he looks like he's ready to light up the NBA whereas Wiggins seems like he'll need a couple years of seasonig.

Still...Duke players...

[Phoenix Dark]

Julius Randle looked very fucking good on Kentucky. Looked like an NBA player last night against the now best team in the country.

[Stoney Mason]

Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle starred on a national stage Tuesday night, offering glimpses at what promises to be a loaded NBA draft class in 2014.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, however, doesn't think NBA teams should tank in an attempt to land one of the talented freshmen.

"As an American, I wouldn't like to think that an American team would want to lose or create situations where you would want to lose," Krzyzewski said following Duke's 94-83 loss to Wiggins and Kansas.

"I can't even fathom -- I can't go there. I can't believe that that would happen. Maybe I'm naive and I'm going to go read a fairy tale after this.

What does being an American have to do with tanking?

Also he's in a system where there is no benefit to being bad. If he's bad its not like he gets the #1 recruit in the nation.

 

[Phoenix Dark]

How is tanking worse than paying recruits to sign with you
 

[CajoleJuice]

How is tanking worse than paying recruits to sign with you
 

paying recruits to sign with you seems very american

[Steve Contra]

Lin 7/9 on 3s tonight

[TakingBackSunday]

I continue to say "fuck you" to anyone who shits on Lin.  Dude was the most exciting Knicks player in a decade (including Melo because fuck Melo) and did fine last season despite people saying otherwise (his statline was more or less identical to his statline in NY).

[Mandark]

What does being an American have to do with tanking?

Also he's in a system where there is no benefit to being bad. If he's bad its not like he gets the #1 recruit in the nation.

 

Yeah, it's easy for him to take the moral high ground because he'll never have to make that choice.

But tanking is uniquely American.  Foreign professional sports leagues typically have relegation/promotion systems that encourage teams to avoid being in the bottom of the standings.

[etiolate]

Nets look old and done. KG looks like his HoF statue out there. Deron looks ready for his second career in China.

[Stoney Mason]

76ers are ballers man. I'm really rooting for them. They were so bad on paper coming into this season.

[Stoney Mason]

Nets look old and done. KG looks like his HoF statue out there. Deron looks ready for his second career in China.

They do look terrible at the moment. The one benefit of the doubt I will give them is that I expected them to start slow with all those old guys. KG and Pierce have started the last few seasons pretty awfully and then turned it on in the second half/playoffs. So I'm guessing that's what that franchise is hoping on. But yeah its not working at the moment.

[Smooth Groove]

Westbrook, Irving, Rose, Lillard, Jennings all shooting under 40%

Remember when small scoring PGs were gonna be the key to winning in the NBA?

[Mandark]

Well first, all five of those guys are listed as 6'3".  Better examples of small scoring PG's this year would be Isaiah Thomas and Ty Lawson, or Eric Bledsoe and Mike Conley, but those guys are all off to hot starts.

Anyways, you're taking two guys coming off major injuries, one 21 year old, and two guys nobody considers elite, taking their performance less than ten games into the season, and finding trends from that shit?  John Hollinger's rolling in his grave.


PS Whatever happened to Anthony Davis being a bust, anyways?

[Smooth Groove]

Sample size is not big but at the same time 8 games can make a big difference for teams that are trying to sneak into playoffs or wanna try to get homecourt advantage.  Is it a mere coincidence that all those guys are shooting poorly? Perhaps but there are also valid reasons to believe that it's harder for smaller scorers to maintain the same consistency as bigger high volume scorers. 

I should have clarified that by small, I was comparing those players to traditional high volume scorers.  The players you mentioned, havn't shot as often as the ones I mentioned, although that might change with increased playing time.

[Smooth Groove]

I never said Anthony Davis was a bust.  I thought that he looked really weak and ineffectual against Gasol last year.  Clearly he thought the same since he added 20 lbs over the summer.

Otoh, Austin Rivers...
 

[etiolate]

It's weird to see Pelican fans making the same excuses for Tyreke as the fans in Sactown did for him. "He's playing injured." "Coach plays him out of position. Doesn't use him properly."

Evans has no position in a winning NBA team. He's a combo guard who can't shoot, doesn't create for teammates, and has very little off-ball awareness. Talented as he is, he just hasn't evolved a gametype that leads to winning. He has to dominate the ball to get his own stats.

[Mandark]

Eh, fast point guards should be scoring more, now that there's 1) the hand-check rule, and 2) spacing-based offenses that use the three-pointer to draw defenders away from the paint.  Plus there just seems to be a spike in talent at that position (as opposed to the mysterious lack of young 2-guards), and mostly I just believe that elite players help you win, regardless of position.

There's maybe some concern that smaller guys would break down earlier, from absorbing contact from bigger bodies, but I can't imagine that would be a concern for the guys you listed at this point in their careers.

[pilonv1]

Westbrook, Irving, Rose, Lillard, Jennings all shooting under 40%

Remember when small scoring PGs were gonna be the key to winning in the NBA?

[Stoney Mason]

OKC versus Warriors tonight on TNT. Should be fun.

[Smooth Groove]

There's maybe some concern that smaller guys would break down earlier, from absorbing contact from bigger bodies, but I can't imagine that would be a concern for the guys you listed at this point in their careers.

It should be a concern though.  Dwade is quite a bit bigger and stronger than those PGs yet he started declining at a relatively young age. 

Aside from wear and tear concerns, it is much harder physically for a point to put up 20 shots a night compared to a wingman or big man.  PGs also get less easy shots which make it hard to maintain a high FG% when their jumpers are off.  With all those issues, I'm not sure if it's a really good strategy to try winning a championship with a PG as the primary scoring threat. 

[etiolate]

Hope to see the Dubs run OKC. I generally root against OKC and the Clippers. Both flop too much and spend too much time at the FT line. I guess both teams are supposed to be fan faves, but I don't really enjoy watching them. Of course, last night, the Clips managed to make me want to see OKC win.

[Stoney Mason]

Great offensive game by Carmelo but Knicks still probably gonna lose it.

[Stoney Mason]

As soon as I post that Carmelo makes a boneheaded foul.

[Smooth Groove]

Lin has been on fire.  His contract is a bargain if he can keep up those numbers for the whole season. 

[Stoney Mason]

Pretty great offense from both sides here.

[Stoney Mason]

Close game.

[Stoney Mason]

Are you kidding me. WoW.

[etiolate]

wow

[Stoney Mason]

UNFUCKING REAL!!!!!!


You missed a hell of a game if you didn't watch this!!!!!