Tracy McGrady. The world will never know if he could have done anything at Houston, because he was either injured, didn't have the supporting cast, or ha another legit piece (Yao) who was also frequently injured.
It's been a long time since the days of The Dream.
It's ball night.
Excited for the new season, no question. I love the NBA.
Was the fantasy league ever set up? Is it currently going?
My favorite bit of analysis from the surprising Harden trade:
Link
But spare me the dreck about how James Harden should have sacrificed for the greater good. He's under no obligation to do so. The Thunder's owners haven't sacrificed profits here; why should Harden? The Thunder brain trust believes in the importance of sacrifice for the greater good, harking back to Tim Duncan taking less than the max in 2007 to help San Antonio afford its complementary stars. They wanted Harden to make that sort of sacrifice. He didn't, and the Thunder voluntarily chose to cut their championship odds in order to save the equivalent of about $1.5 million in salary and a few million more in tax payments every season.
My favorite bit of analysis from the surprising Harden trade:
Zach Lowe wrote:But spare me the dreck about how James Harden should have sacrificed for the greater good. He's under no obligation to do so. The Thunder's owners haven't sacrificed profits here; why should Harden? The Thunder brain trust believes in the importance of sacrifice for the greater good, harking back to Tim Duncan taking less than the max in 2007 to help San Antonio afford its complementary stars. They wanted Harden to make that sort of sacrifice. He didn't, and the Thunder voluntarily chose to cut their championship odds in order to save the equivalent of about $1.5 million in salary and a few million more in tax payments every season.
Unfortunately if you listen to the podcast Lowe did Simmons steers it in the direction of Boston again. If you hire someone like Zach Lowe you need to let them just do analysis and not feel pressure to cover Boston an inordinate amount of time. Bill, you've already got that base covered.
I'll catch that podcast later today. I'm glad Zach Lowe has a bigger presence now, and it's hardly surprising that Simmons goes on and on about Boston. That's his lens. I've developed a pretty good tolerance for Simmons' tangents over the years though.
Saw an analysis today that said Harden, statistically, produced the second highest wins of any Thunder player last season. Sounds good to me!
First Rockets game is tomorrow night, though, so it will be competing with Halloween and whatever my wife wants to do. I might only get to read about it.
Saw an analysis today that said Harden, statistically, produced the second highest wins of any Thunder player last season. Sounds good to me!
First Rockets game is tomorrow night, though, so it will be competing with Halloween and whatever my wife wants to do. I might only get to read about it.
That statistic doesn't shock me.
All I know is what I saw with my eyeballs. And my eyes told me that when Harden entered the game the tempo changed and the other team frequently found itself on its heels. Pounding the ball upcourt the way he does with the threat of pulling up for the 3 or going to the rim is a deadly skill. When your attitude about it is as relentless as his it literally changes the game. The best comparison I can come up with is Steve Nash. Now Harden isn't Steve Nash, not even close. But it's that same thing where you realize that he's going to be coming out you the entire time he's in the game and that he's a threat to score on every possession. Maybe OKC doesn't need that, but my eyeballs told me that that change of pace was really valuable.
It will be interesting whether he will have that same intensity on another team. Or how long it will last if the team is struggling.
Caveat: I am not a fan of Harden. It seems to me that he is limiting himself to only a role player because he comes across as uncoachable.
The same analysis was very critical of Presti for trading Harden with a year still on his contract. He said if you can't get value for your player, you just keep your championship-contending team in place. Makes sense.
The same analysis was very critical of Presti for trading Harden with a year still on his contract. He said if you can't get value for your player, you just keep your championship-contending team in place. Makes sense.
Assuming Harden was mentally in a place where he'd be completely dialed in and not a distraction like previous contract-year players I think this is 100% correct. That caveat makes me think it's possible Presti saw him as potential trouble in the locker room. Otherwise why not keep the core together and make a run. It's possible that if that one more "feel-good" year in OKC convinces Harden to take less money. Who knows.
Who's the third best player in an NBA roto draft? I'm doing my main draft tonight, the one I've been in for 6, 7 years now. I have the 3rd pick and in a snake draft I feel like that's the worst place to be. The drop-off between LeBron, KD and everyone else seems huge. And by the time the pick gets back to me it's going to be pretty rough. Especially in a 10 person league.
Rose? He still injured?
Chris Paul?
That seems to be the conventional wisdom, but it's a tough pill to swallow. One pick away from drafting KD (likely) and instead you end up with a player with a history of injuries and a huge scoring dropoff. Maybe you make that up with assists, rebounds, shooting percentage, etc. but I don't know.
Doesn't the list change when you are talking about the third best player in stats?
Because I'd wager a lot of my best players are underrated in the stats (because they do so many things without the ball or aren't covered by stats)
I'd say Love if he wasn't hurt :/
Regarding fantasy: my computer is out of commission for a while. I can borrow one for the draft, but is it easy enough to manage a yahoo team via mobile?
I'd say Love if he wasn't hurt :/
Regarding fantasy: my computer is out of commission for a while. I can borrow one for the draft, but is it easy enough to manage a yahoo team via mobile?
In my league last year I drafted Love 4th before Kobe and many other players. He was a powerhouse. I would easily draft him 3rd if he was healthy.
Okay then, I'm in. I'll sign up later tonight.
Lakers over Heat in 7 for the finals.
Obviously it is in 6 =P
Happy NBA day!
How do I nab my second team?
Do I need an alt Yahoo ID?
Oh jeez. Stern just said Hurricane Katrina instead of Sandy. Heat crowd not happy.
Well, in all fairness the guy has had Katrina on the brain for a long time now. He took over the Hornets and kept them in business when they should have just moved. He vetoed trades. The man has been thinking of Katrina longer than most.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO galaxy note 2 commercial!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
you wont guilt me into liking Lebron James. I'm prepared to go to hell.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Is Dwight Howard secretly 6'8"? He is way shorter than Pau.
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