NBA Season 2013-2014 (Sep.) FIBA World Cup

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So NBA 2k14 is already out, it must be time for a new season of basketball.

Pre-season games have already started. The Pacers are currently playing in the Philippines with a 730 AM eastern tipoff. They play again in Taiwan this weekend.

Anyway, ESPN Draft section if you forgot what happened this summer. All I remember is how lucky Minnesota fans are to have Gorgui Dieng, and how I might have to start cheering for the Timberwolves now.

Go Pacers! Beat the Heat! (Never too early for playoff talk)

19 days until the season starts!

There was a great season preview by Zach Lowe over at Grantland. He breaks the teams down into tiers: Contenders, the Juicy Middle, the Morass, etc.

Thanks. I wasn't having any luck finding a general preview on ESPN. Lots of info for specific teams and player ratings though.

Sports Illustrated had a Preview section on their NBA home page, but trying to link the sub-section was a 404. And I didn't want to link a ton of articles individually.

There's definitely a lot of stuff out there to read.

My main concern for the Pacers is what is going to happen with Danny Granger? Can he mesh with Paul George? Is he healthy? And if no to either question, will we trade him for the right piece to get back to the Finals finally?

Seeing how Vogel is going to handle Granger's return will definitely be interesting. I would be tempted to use him off the bench, since the core of that team was really coming together at the end of last season—and the bench was a major weakness. Having Granger and Scola coming off the bench would be a major improvement.

I'm really looking forward to this season!

IMAGE(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2834/10237965115_3f9b571772_b.jpg)

Nice!

It's funny how everyone is so quick to trade Danny Granger, NBA beat writers, I mean. The reality is that Danny Granger, with the proper attitude, could be amazing off of the bench. And then he's there if Paul George or David West goes down.

I'm pretty psyched to see what the Wizards can do this year. Bradley Beal is quickly blossoming into a first rate player.

I'm somewhat high on Beal (good-not-elite player, but that's not a bad thing in Washington), but I watch Wizards games just for John Wall. They are a ton of fun. I'm not sure they're a playoff team this year and Otto Porter is my pick for "draft bust", but Okafor and Ariza's expiring deals might net them some pieces that'd help a lot.

Nice breakdown of the Pacers at NBA.com.

Also a league-wide season preview from David Aldridge of 10 things to watch this season. Along with power rankings, some reader questions, a by the numbers section, quotes, and a Q&A with coach Mark Jackson. Pretty thorough reading.

In the only preseason game I can muster any feeling for... former teammates and national champions Gorgui Dieng and Peyton Siva face off tonight in Detroit, as Minnesota comes to town.

Who do I cheer for?

Cheer for preseason to be over. I can't remember a preseason that has dragged more than this one. Can't wait for the season to start next week.

Turner Sports announced today that TNT/NBA TV are kicking off the season with three consecutive nights of doubleheaders, including Bulls/Heat and Lakers/Clippers on Tuesday, Nets/Cavs and Lakers/Warriors on Wednesday, and Knicks/Bulls and Warriors/Clippers on Thursday.

2 Lakers games, 2 Bulls game, 2 Clippers games? And the Knicks/Nets both.

So NY, Chicago, and LA are all that matter? :p

Stele wrote:

2 Lakers games, 2 Bulls game, 2 Clippers games? And the Knicks/Nets both.

So NY, Chicago, and LA are all that matter? :p

Have you been watching the NBA long?

I know I know. But Cleveland was featured there for a while every week when they were winning. Now the Pacers have had back-to-back years as the 3rd best team in the East, and made the East Semis and East Finals, but they still can't get any national TV games?

Do they ever reward on court success?

Stele wrote:

Do they ever reward on court success?

No. The NBA always has been and always will be about money.

That said, I think we're likely to see a good number of Pacers games on TV this year. Unfortunately, they open against the Magic and the Pelicans, and nobody wants to watch that.

Been awfully nice to see Derrick Rose doing Derrick Rose things.

Given how bad the C's are gonna be this year, I am all aboard the Brooklyn train. GET THOSE OLD DUDES MORE RINGS, KIDD.

I am also rapidly becoming a believer in the Warriors. Because I enjoy seeing video game strategies work in real life.

This is quite possibly the dumbest basketball-related article I've ever read.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/63735/early-success-shouldnt-change-sixers-plan

This all puts Hinkie in a tough situation. Winning breeds confidence in a way no other form of training can duplicate. It's good for morale. It's good for development. And it's good for the franchise's reputation.

Every game the Sixers win, though, is a major blow to their most valuable asset: their 2014 first-round pick. Keep the roster together, and they could land in the middle of the pack. That’s not the ideal place to finish with the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes looming.

Given the strength of the 2014 draft class, waving the white flag and blowing up this already blown-up team might be the best path.

The NBA really needs to change the lottery so it no longer encourages losing and throwing away seasons.

Throwing away seasons is bad. Throwing away seasons where a young team could win 30 - 40 games and coalesce around a good core is insane. Here's a young, exciting team that's having fun. They look like there might be some chemistry. Michael Carter Williams looks like he might be a steal. But let's blow that up for Andrew Wiggins.

The only problem with changing the lottery is that there aren't great alternatives. The NBA's method is also better than, say, the NHL's. There have been many times where the worst team didn't win and ending up falling down the chart a bit. Hell, San Antonio won Tim Duncan but Celtics were the team with, by far, the highest chance. I think NBA GMs and owners just need to stop looking at tanking as a viable strategy. It requires too much luck.

Vector wrote:

There have been many times where the worst team didn't win and ending up falling down the chart a bit.

The Charlotte Bobcats would like to remind you that their prize for going 7-59 in 2011-12 was not the No. 1 pick and Anthony Davis but the No. 2 pick and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who still cannot shoot a basketball.

Enix wrote:
Vector wrote:

There have been many times where the worst team didn't win and ending up falling down the chart a bit.

The Charlotte Bobcats would like to remind you that their prize for going 7-59 in 2011-12 was not the No. 1 pick and Anthony Davis but the No. 2 pick and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who still cannot shoot a basketball.

That's a good example of not getting the first pick. Tanking only works if the people in charge aren't completely stupid. Still need to be desirable for players (either to re-sign or for UFAs).

My point is that tanking probably doesn't work. Even if you pull it off and finish dead last in the league, you only have a 25 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick.

In the process, you've probably alienated your fan base and destroyed your team. Any GM wretched enough to get his team in a position to get that No. 1 ping pong ball probably isn't savvy enough to win a title.

If you look at the No. 1 picks over the past decade, there's LeBron, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose and ... a lot of guys who aren't poised to do much in the league.

Enix wrote:

My point is that tanking probably doesn't work. Even if you pull it off and finish dead last in the league, you only have a 25 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick.

In the process, you've probably alienated your fan base and destroyed your team. Any GM wretched enough to get his team in a position to get that No. 1 ping pong ball probably isn't savvy enough to win a title.

If you look at the No. 1 picks over the past decade, there's LeBron, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose and ... a lot of guys who aren't poised to do much in the league.

We're making the same point. *high-five*

Here's a great article on the ESPN article.

http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/should-success-change-the-sixer-s-plan

Overall, Boxscore Geeks is a pretty interesting website.

Someone told me that Bradley Beal grew 2 inches this summer. Can anyone tell me how tall he is now? I thought he was 6'3" coming out of the draft but a light googling session said he was listed at 6'5". A 6'7" guard doing college Bradley Beal things sounds like a lot of fun to watch.

Enix wrote:

The Charlotte Bobcats would like to remind you that their prize for going 7-59 in 2011-12 was not the No. 1 pick and Anthony Davis but the No. 2 pick and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who still cannot shoot a basketball.

Maybe they should have drafted a better player; they were certainly on the board. Having had the opportunity to look behind the curtain in Charlotte this summer, I am not exactly surprised that they drafted the guy they did.

Ed Ropple wrote:

... Having had the opportunity to look behind the curtain in Charlotte this summer ...

Oh? I want to hear more about this.

(As for MKG, I think I recall that he was the consensus No. 2 that year behind Davis. And the Bobcats picked him despite a desperate need for scoring that he'll never give them. I can't remember who else the Bobcats considered and why they went with MKG over, say, Bradley Beal or a Thomas Robinson.)

I interviewed for a position in their new analytics group over the summer. Getting to walk through their arena while it was completely empty was one of the cooler experiences I can remember.

Woo! Pacers pulling away from the Bulls. Looks like an 18-ish point victory.

Nice to remain undefeated, but good to beat the division rivals and start working on playoff position.

Can't believe that we're only 8 days into the season and there's only one undefeated team left.

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