NBA Season 2011-2012

Blind_Evil wrote:

Eh, I get that he's the best guy in the trade but he'll be 34 or 35 at the end of that bloated deal, probably a role player at best. I don't really think Wall has done much to entice anyone to come to a traditionally terrible team via free agency.

I guess they took a sh*tty situation and made it less so, but I don't think taking on a bunch of money for a guy that will be too old to play with whatever young core you manage to cobble together is the answer there.

Also, the fact that Nene was so strongly pursued in the offseason only to be traded half a season later throws up some red flags IMO.

you mean in 15/16 when the current GM doesn't predict to be in the same job?

and I think the point is that Wall isn't enticing anyone. If Nene can show anything its come play with Wall + Nene then, not just Wall.

As it stands Wash is drafting in the top 3 this year. So top 3pick + Nene + Wall to attract a guy come 13/14. Its a good future that will obviously be ruined by whoever they overpay with all that cap room. I predict a Joe Johnson esque move.

So Portland apparently cut Chris Johnson as well. The team is officially blown up. Some interesting articles today about how apparently Wallace and Camby were causing trouble in the locker room and Nate lost them. So I'm not shocked they blew it up. It's actually kind of rare for a team to do it that spectacularly. Now hopefully we can lose enough games to grab another good pick this year. Maybe move Batum while his trade value is still high and nab a couple more picks.

NBA writers are driving me crazy with the phrase "in this league."

I started listening to The Basketball Jones podcasts this year. I really like the show, but I'd say every two minutes they add a needless "in this league" to the end of a sentence. Nobody tunes in to this show expecting talk of any other league, guys.

"He can be a great guard in this league I think."
"Nene just hasn't played as well as he needs to in this league."
"I don't see a future for him with any team in this league."

It's not just the TBJ guys, so it's not just a Canadian thing.

Blind_Evil wrote:

NBA writers are driving me crazy with the phrase "in this league."

I don't disagree, but at this point that's like someone saying "um" to me. I don't even notice. It's that common. I think it's a habit that developed when writers didn't want to disparage some college talent and make it clear that X player is "fantastic" but not suited for the NBA. *shrug*

It's much worse with NFL pundits saying "in the National Football League."

Love me some TBJ.

So I'm new to the whole NBA thing (Really, professional sports in general) and I want to better understand the nature of the contracts between players and their teams. That includes topics such as drafting, trading, and free agency. I'm not looking for anything specific, just a general understanding on how the contractual relationships in a professional sports league work. For example, I'm interested in the draft system. I want to know how the teams get to draft the players and how the players become eligible for drafts. I'm interested in the topic of free agency and what the status means to a player. I'm also interested in how teams evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a trade. Can anyone direct me to a website or a book that can introduce these concepts?

Hmm, good question. Basically each sport has it's own rules, so general ideas carry over between them (like free agents) but the details can be very different (like in the NBA contracts are guaranteed, in the NFL a team can cancel a contract at any time).

For NBA specifics I would start with this:

Salary cap, talks about free agents, trading, etc. Some of the stuff is a little too detailed but just skip those parts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Sal...

Draft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nba_draft
http://www.nba.com/bobcats/draft_bas...

I can tell you all you want to know about the NHL but the NBA has very different views and salary structure. I haven't followed it for many years.

Gnome gave some good links I think.

Most basic stuff is that draft order is generally determined by inverse order of standings from the previous year. The idea being the worst team gets the best player, and eventually improves. Generally the idea is to keep things competitive throughout the league, not just have a couple teams dominating all the time.

Same with salary caps... if all teams can only spend x amount of dollars, they can't sign all the best players, and some other team will get one of the better players they couldn't afford.

One of the fun ways you could learn is by picking up one of the NBA 2k series games. Probably 2k11 is down to $20 or less now, and is still a fantastic game, despite being "last year's model" at this point. You can play a "franchise mode" in that game, where you basically run a team. You can even sim the games if you don't want to play, and just do the behind-the-scenes stuff, like negotiating contracts, scouting players, making trades, and so on.

It's not a 100% realistic simulation because in the real world the Lakers are never trading Kobe Bryant, but in the game you could probably offer some combination of all-stars that might make the CPU agree to it. But still it's fun, and mostly accurate.

Thanks for the links and explanations guys. Gnome, Bobcats?

It came up in Google, I swear! I wondered the same thing, like what does this article have to do with the Bobcats, although if there is any team that needs a lesson in drafting I guess it is them.

Geeze, no wonder Australia's basketball league is so rubbish, what with its salary cap of an even $1mil. I mean, you can't even buy a single solid gold house with that, never mind two.

Wow. Stay classy, Hornets fans. Jason Smith tackles Blake Griffin and they cheer him and boo Griffin. Just sell the team to a buyer in Seattle already.

That was a dumb, dangerous play by Smith which could of injured Griffin. There is no place for it in today's NBA. However I do believe Griffin has the tendency to get under opponent's skin. Just ask Andre Miller.

Sure. I remember that. Honestly it makes me miss the old NBA where those things would never happen because someone like Miller would be free to retaliate. I think there was *less* dirty plays when the other team could send in an Ed Nealy to "send a message". Either way I didn't love the reaction of the fans.

Haha, that Andre Miller shove was great

DSGamer wrote:

Sure. I remember that. Honestly it makes me miss the old NBA where those things would never happen because someone like Miller would be free to retaliate. I think there was *less* dirty plays when the other team could send in an Ed Nealy to "send a message". Either way I didn't love the reaction of the fans.

I agree with you. I'm nostalgic about the old NBA as well. I don't think Kevin Garnett would be as much as a bully when faced with imminent repercussions. After looking at this finals clip though, I think we're in a better place.

Okay, we don't want that.

That's an amazing clip.

#1 - Because the announcers called what Darryl Dawkins did a "great hustle play".

#2 - Because two players lined up like old-timey boxers with fists up and started to dance around

How about that Thunder/Wolves game last night?

Grosses me out how good a shooter Durant is. I was pissed about it most of the day.

Love wasn't bad himself, though.

Thirteenth wrote:

How about that Thunder/Wolves game last night?

rant and tangent.

and thats why I can't watch NCAA. Watching guys brick routine NBA jumpers or games get close as teams implode at the free throw line is just not exciting basketball for me.

/rant

Yes! Pacers beat the Heat by 15 tonight.

Knicks game tonight:

Wha, what happened?

The Pacers are going to make a playoff run this year. Started out 3rd in the East, had a bit of a lull, now they're making a play for that 3 spot again. Knicks were in the way. :p

And the Pacers just beat the Thunder last night. 4-0 to start the month. Ramping up for a playoff run!

Hm, what's up with the Thunder though? 0-3 since Durant publicly called out Skip Bayless and tried to defend Westbrook shooting so damn much.

Now I see why a player might tackle Griffin. He makes Sportscenter for two blatant offensive fouls that happen to be on athletic dunks.

Neither one was a foul, though. He rose straight up to get the rebound, not over the back. Pau was in the circle on the second one, clearly a blocking foul.

carrotpanic wrote:

Neither one was a foul, though. He rose straight up to get the rebound, not over the back. Pau was in the circle on the second one, clearly a blocking foul.

Are you joking? If I did that in a game (I played once upon a time) without the dunk they'd most definitely call a foul. Either for going for a rebound over someone's back or for forearm shivering a guy on the way up.

It wasn't over his back, and it was in the circle. Not joking.