The NBA thread

[Phoenix Dark]

I need some NBAsplaining. So what's going on with Hibbert? I saw that Larry Bird gif and googled an explanation. Apparently Hibbert is playing like shit? He was pretty good last year and for much of this year right? Is this just a symptom of the Pacers implosion in general, or is he specifically being singled out as a problem? Is it effort related or just a slump?

You rarely see GMs or owners look that exasperated lol.

[benjipwns]

After a 91-78 loss to the Washington Wizards on March 28, Hibbert had some choice words for his teammates.

"Some selfish dudes in here," the center told reporters. "Some selfish dudes. I'm tired of talking about it. We've been talking about it for a month."

...

The team's frustration reached a high point in a 107-88 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks on April 6, a contest in which coach Frank Vogel benched all five starters at one point. Hibbert, who appeared to be disinterested on the bench, didn't play in the second half in that game -- a move Vogel said was made for rest purposes.

No other player may be struggling more than Hibbert, who has scored a total of nine points on 3-of-28 shooting over his past four games.

The rumor is all sorts of infighting. And that Brian Shaw was the peacemaker.

He is getting pointed to in one way because he's 7-2 and pulling down less than 7 boards a game.

But he's imploded with the team too. Went from 12/8 with 52% TS before the break, and 9/4.5 on 45% after.

[Stoney Mason]

I need some NBAsplaining. So what's going on with Hibbert? I saw that Larry Bird gif and googled an explanation. Apparently Hibbert is playing like shit? He was pretty good last year and for much of this year right? Is this just a symptom of the Pacers implosion in general, or is he specifically being singled out as a problem? Is it effort related or just a slump?

You rarely see GMs or owners look that exasperated lol.

The whole team has been bad for two months. There are lots of theories for why but non of them quite make sense alone. There was always going to be a slight return to the mean for this team but its gone way beyond that.

Atlanta is also seemingly an especially bad matchup for Hibbert.  Pero Antic is essentially pulling him away from the rim as he is hanging around the perimeter and Milsap is too quick for him to guard.

[Stoney Mason]

Harden's defense has gone from joking matter to literally one of the main reasons Houston is losing this series.

[Stoney Mason]

I said wow

[Stoney Mason]

Houston miracles one out.

[Stoney Mason]

[Shadow Mod]

Lopez being on the bench, especially for OT, was criminally stupid.

[Stoney Mason]

Yep

L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his GF he does NOT want her bringing black people to his games ... including Magic Johnson ... and it's ALL on tape.

TMZ Sports has obtained audio of Sterling making the racist declaration during a heated argument on April 9th with V. Stiviano ... after she posted a photo on Instagram posing with Magic.

Sterling rails on Stiviano -- who ironically is black and Mexican -- for putting herself out in public with a black person (she has since taken the pic down).  But it doesn't end there.  You have to listen to the audio to fully grasp the magnitude of Sterling's racist worldview. Among the comments:

-- "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?" (3:30)

-- "You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games." (5:15)

-- "I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people." (7:45)

-- "...Don't put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.  And don't bring him to my games." (9:13)

http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/26/donald-sterling-clippers-owner-black-people-racist-audio-magic-johnson/

[Shadow Mod]

Typical racist. Into his black chicks and cuckolding but don't bring them black boys round these parts.

[Joe Molotov]

This guy is known racist scum and a slumlord to top it off.

[Mandark]

Yeah, guy had a huge settlement with the federal government over housing discrimination, and there are stories of him bringing women into the locker room to show off black athletes showering.

Which is probably what PD would do if he owned an NBA team, but still.

[Phoenix Dark]

It's no coincidence that he told his gf she didn't have to not sleep with black guys.

[Mandark]

I'm listening to the recording now and WEIRD

[Steve Contra]

That recording...

Sounds like the dude is high out of his mind.

[Stoney Mason]

I think this is a bit of an over-reaction. He probably only means the bad black people. Not the good black people.


 

[Phoenix Dark]

Maybe he meant blah people.

[Joe Molotov]

[Stoney Mason]

HOLY SHIT

[TakingBackSunday]

BIG DICK VINCE

Go Mavs!

[Great Rumbler]

[Stoney Mason]

That's weird. I could have sworn I posted this but then suddenly I couldn't find it. Maybe I posted it in a different thread by accident.

[Joe Molotov]

Vinsanity

[Joe Molotov]

I read a thing pointing out that Dirk and Duncan first faced each other in the playoffs in 2001. I knew that, but damn, that's crazy to think about.

[etiolate]

I believe the NBAs own laws state it takes something along the lines of criminal activity go remove an owner.

Would be an opportunity to resolve the Seattle situation.

[Phoenix Dark]

The Clippers should walk off the court the minute the game starts.

[Your Stalker]

silver looked legit shook

[TakingBackSunday]

So, the Heat look to be the best team in the playoffs right now...

[Stoney Mason]

So, the Heat look to be the best team in the playoffs right now...

The Bobcats were a perfect matchup for them. I wouldn't put anymore into it than that at this stage.

[Your Stalker]

[benjipwns]

Oh man, you can literally see Jordan fuming about it wishing this was ten years ago or more.

[Shadow Mod]

Jordan beat the Monstars, fuck Lebron.

[benjipwns]

Jordan had help, they lose that game if Bill Murray doesn't show up.

(Or if the Monstars steal from somebody better than Shawn Bradley...like...David Robinson.)

[Shadow Mod]

That just adds to Jordan being more awesome than Lebron. He played with Bill fucking Murray.

[benjipwns]

He played with Bill fucking Murray.

[Stoney Mason]

Deadspin has acquired an extended, 15-minute version of the conversation between Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his then-girlfriend V. Stiviano. If the original nine-minute tape acquired by TMZ left any questions about Sterling's opinions regarding minorities, the audio here should remove all doubt that he's a doddering racist with views not too far removed from the plantation.

You can find the new audio in the above video, which contains the transcript. (This version is also a little crisper than the original and has some extra background activity around the edges, which indicates that this was recorded in a house.) As with the original, we don't know if this has been edited in some way. The NBA is investigating. Thus far, Sterling's team has offered only a tepid response, lightly suggesting the possibility that the original audio had been doctored and pointing out that V. Stiviano had recently been sued by the Sterlings.

http://deadspin.com/exclusive-the-extended-donald-sterling-tape-1568291249

In this audio, Sterling expresses ideas similar to the ones he did in the original: The world will think certain things if you're seen with black people, he tells his mistress, so you should not be seen with them in public, and under no circumstances should you bring them to Clippers games. How does he square his dim view of black people with the fact that he has an NBA team full of black players? Sterling responds with a breathtaking non-sequitur.

V: I don't understand, I don't see your views. I wasn't raised the way you were raised.

DS: Well then, if you don't feel—don't come to my games. Don't bring black people, and don't come.

V: Do you know that you have a whole team that's black, that plays for you?

DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?
Poor Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp is also dragged into the conversation, having appeared in an Instagram photo with V. Stiviano. It was her photo with Magic Johnson that had apparently started the fight.

V: Honey, if it makes you happy, I will remove all of the black people from my Instagram.

DS: You said that before, you said, "I understand."

V: I DID remove the people that were independently on my Instagram that are black.

DS: Then why did you start saying that you didn't? You just said that you didn't remove them. You didn't remove every—

V: I didn't remove Matt Kemp and Magic Johnson, but I thought—

DS: Why?

V: I thought Matt Kemp is mixed, and he was OK, just like me.

DS: OK.

V: He's lighter and whiter than me.

DS: OK.

V: I met his mother.

DS: You think I'm a racist, and wouldn't—

V: I don't think you're a racist.

DS: Yes you do. Yes you do.

V: I think you, you—

DS: Evil heart.
And there is also this baffling exchange about black Jews in Israel:

DS: It's the world! You go to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs.

V: So do you have to treat them like that too?

DS: The white Jews, there's white Jews and black Jews, do you understand?

V: And are the black Jews less than the white Jews?

DS: A hundred percent, fifty, a hundred percent.

V: And is that right?

DS: It isn't a question—we don't evaluate what's right and wrong, we live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.

V: But shouldn't we take a stand for what's wrong? And be the change and the difference?

DS: I don't want to change the culture, because I can't. It's too big and too [unknown].

V: But you can change yourself.

DS: I don't want to change. If my girl can't do what I want, I don't want the girl. I'll find a girl that will do what I want! Believe me. I thought you were that girl—because I tried to do what you want. But you're not that girl.
They close by essentially invoking Hitler and closing down the thread, comparing Sterling's viewpoints to the Holocaust:

V: It's like saying, "Let's just persecute and kill all of the Jews."

DS: Oh, it's the same thing, right?

V: Isn't it wrong? Wasn't it wrong then? With the Holocaust? And you're Jewish, you understand discrimination.

DS: You're a mental case, you're really a mental case. The Holocaust, we're comparing with—

V: Racism! Discrimination.

DS: There's no racism here. If you don't want to be... walking... into a basketball game with a certain... person, is that racism?
Remember that these aren't the unfortunate offhand comments of an old man. These are expressions of a worldview that Sterling has acted upon time and time again, with real effects on real people, with little to no response from the NBA or its players. The difference in this case is the visceral effect of actually hearing him say these things out loud and oh so matter-of-factly. It's enough for even an actor as careful as LeBron James to feel empowered to take a flamethrower to Sterling, saying, "There is no room for Donald Sterling in our league."

http://deadspin.com/exclusive-the-extended-donald-sterling-tape-1568291249

[Great Rumbler]

Donald Sterling was going to honored with a lifetime achievement award from NAACP next month!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

But not anymore, obviously.

[close]

[Phoenix Dark]

how the fuck is that even possible. he was a known racist before this happened.

[Stoney Mason]

Local chapters can act independently.

The clippers were suddenly hot.

I guess this dude who has owned them forever can't be too bad/racist since he employs a black coach and black players as conventional wisdom.


Stuff like that.

 

[etiolate]

I don't even understand Sterling's defense of himself. Dude is living in a Bertram Cooper reality bubble.

[Stoney Mason]

I don't even understand Sterling's defense of himself. Dude is living in a Bertram Cooper reality bubble.

It's the plantation owners mentality. It's alright to sleep with them. But they are still fundamentally beneath you even if you have to work with them. Living in the south its not so unusual a mentality.

[Phoenix Dark]

smh

The Manhattans as entertainment yall. Tells you the age demographic that will be there.

[Stoney Mason]

Washington is dusting the bulls even without Nene.

[Phoenix Dark]

@JalenRose 6m

I'm hearing Clipper players will be turning their team-issued gear inside out (except for uniforms) for all of Game 4. #DonaldSterling

Weak. Especially in light of this:

DS: You just, do I know? I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?

[Stoney Mason]

The coach has already made public statements about how they feel. You can ask the players to do the same. That's fair. The idea that they need to boycott the game imo is too far. They don't need to punish themselves. Either way its their call. Not the public's. Words are very powerful. You can use them for that.

[Phoenix Dark]

It's their call, agreed. But there are black athletes who lost far more than a playoff series to stand up for what they believed in. Personally I would like to see a boycott but I won't shitcan them if they play.

[Mandark]

Looks attractive Jewish person PD was right about the NAACP

http://www.naacp-losangeles.org/events.php

scroll down and look at the lifetime achievement award recipient

 

[Phoenix Dark]

What do you expect from a Turkish Muslim

[Human Snorenado]

It's their call, agreed. But there are black athletes who lost far more than a playoff series to stand up for what they believed in. Personally I would like to see a boycott but I won't shitcan them if they play.

Ultimately though, they're trying to win a championship for themselves, too. I understand. Tommie Smith and John Carlos still got their medals.

[Stoney Mason]

It looks like the Clippers are staging their protest by playing like shit.

 

[etiolate]

-You know how people say somebody has a baby face? Well Joakim Noah has an ugly baby face. There's something off there. He's that kid in the school trip photo that they keep trying to hide in the corners of the frame.
-Trevor Booker has horrible hands
-JVG calling out the lack of real boycott was odd. I wouldn't tell the Clips what to do in that situation. Further, it's the Clippers, so everyone should expect them to flop out of a boycott.
-I realize that I pretty much just watch the Warriors and Spurs in the playoffs. The east is kind of boring and the Heat era is rather boring.

[Stoney Mason]

I think the playoffs so far have been great. Lots of close games. Lots of road wins.

And one thing I notice is that when bad calls happen in series with "minor" teams. It's quickly forgotten. When it happens in series with certain teams its all the media can talk about and then project into bias talks.

Not a diss at anybody in the thread. Legit observation that I always believed but has only been reinforced recently with these early playoff games.

[etiolate]

Anything in a game with minor teams is forgotten, but that's part of the NBA's prob.

[Stoney Mason]

I care more about whether the minor teams have a realistic chance to compete. That's a legit problem worthy of discussions on how to fix or if it needs fixing. Whether minor teams can be popular and draw ratings is a different problem than ref bias which draws a lot of conversation despite little actual analysis. But I digress. I'll get back to discussing the actual games. Sames goes for this Sterling stuff at least for me.

[etiolate]

From watching the NBA for years, competition balance, how the league is promoted and what it promotes ties heavily into the referee problem. I wish it was just the league having bad refs, but Ive seen too many trends and nonsense over the years.

[Stoney Mason]

From watching the NBA for years, competition balance, how the league is promoted and what it promotes ties heavily into the referee problem. I wish it was just the league having bad refs, but Ive seen too many trends and nonsense over the years.

I've watched the same basketball you have and come to the complete opposite conclusion. Which is why some actual statistics on the issue or research would be nice rather than anecdotal stuff. Otherwise the discussion is moot which is generally why I frown upon it.

[etiolate]

You can't data this. You can't statistic this. Hell, you don't find evidence if the offenders are truly good at what they're doing.

[Stoney Mason]

sigh

[Your Stalker]

so did the clipfederacy throw the game?

[benjipwns]