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

Oh hell this better not be true.

LeBron to star in Space Jam 2.

Stele wrote:

Oh hell this better not be true.

LeBron to star in Space Jam 2.

I hope it's true and that they use the old Space Jam website.

DSGamer wrote:
Stele wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

Paul George is better than Lebron? Uh yeah...

By the numbers, on both ends combined yeah.

Don't worry he'll prove it in May. ;)

Yeah. I think if you like basketball you should be listening to podcasts with Zach Lowe or reading everything he writes on Grantland. He's dove deep into the analytics end of things and the drum he beats the most is that basketball is played on 2 ends of the court. That sounds pithy and obvious. And we know that teams will frequently "hide" someone worth hiding if he's that valuable or disruptive offensively. But genuine 2-way players are becoming more valuable and more obviously valuable and I think this is a good trend. Think of the best players of all time and chances are that even if they weren't all defense 1st team they could still play defense. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were both effective enough defensive players. Bill Russell was, of course, Bill Russell. And almost criminally underrated at this point, if that's possible.

His articles are great, especially the frame by frame analysis. I also like the shot charts by Goldsberry (spelling?). Seeing numbers on paper is one thing, but seeing a shot chart for an entire season really drives a point home. Goldsberry on the Heat: “Here’s an insane stat: 95 NBA players have attempted at least 200 shots inside eight feet this season. The top three in FG% — LeBron (75%), Bosh (69%), Wade (68%).”

I want Goldsberry to publish how he's filtering these charts, because they bear no resemblance to mine, but otherwise, he's awesome.

Money:

IMAGE(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19gqjx2fkyrqxgif/ku-xlarge.gif)

That gif could only be better if he raised his hand after the first bounce knowing it was going in

The guy in the blue shirt just to the left of the goal is just priceless.

Jimmer on the Bulls (But he's also talking about the Kings).

http://m.espn.go.com/general/story?s...

"I see how this team plays and they play hard every single night," Fredette said. "And they play for each other and they play the right way and that's kind of something that I was looking for, to come into a team that I could fit in and play the way that I wanted to and play hard every single night and be a part of a team."

Al Jefferson, ladies and gentlemen.

About the only thing more stunning than Duke losing to Wake was the Bobcats taking the Pacers behind the woodshed last night.

Yep. Pacers losing both games in a back-to-back was bad. Although like half of their losses this season are the 2nd night of back-to-backs, still... Charlotte?

Oh, don't beat yourself up, Stele. The Bobcats aren't that bad. It's not like they'd let LeBron go for 70 or anything like that.

Spoiler:

LeBron only had 61 against the Bobcats. SUCK IT HEAT.

Making fun of the Bobcats doesn't work this year. They're seventh in the league in defense and they're consistently playing like they want it.

Yeah I have to reiterate that I am ALL IN FOR HORNETS 2014-2015. BUZZ BUZZZZZ.

Ed Ropple wrote:

Making fun of the Bobcats doesn't work this year. They're seventh in the league in defense and they're consistently playing like they want it.

I kid because I love.

They've been a real pleasant surprise this year, and they're not unwatchable like they've been in the past.

I expect them to get swept in the playoffs unless somehow they make it to a 4-5 seed. But it has been a nice, fun run so far.

Jefferson, though, can ball. Give him the ball down there in the block and make way for Big Al.

Jefferson is secretly one-handed and nobody f*cking notices and it pisses me off.

Magical:

(via Deadspin)

So... Gorgui Dieng. 3 starts, 3 double-doubles. 22 and 21 last night.

Minn coach is looking pretty stupid right now for not playing him more before now?

Enix wrote:

Magical:

(via Deadspin)

I love this. And I love what's happening with Gerald Green right now.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/cupcakes-and-dog-days-and-the-rise-of-gerald-green/

On another note, I caught part of the Spurs-Lakers game the other night (second quarter, to be exact), and Tony Parker put on a clinic on driving to the basket.

Yeah, I know it's the Lakers, and they couldn't defend my grandmother (or Grandmama at his current age), but the Spurs looked pretty sharp.

Anyone want to take odds on another Spurs-Heat matchup this summer?

(Yes, I know OKC is at full strength this year, and Indy seems better, and the Heat is a year older, but still.)

Back in December when the Nets demoted Lawrence Frank there was a big stink in this thread about 'em being the worst thing since...burnt toast?

Anyway they're 25-9 in 2014. Fewer losses than the Heat over that stretch, off the top of my head. This is why they play all the games.

Good point. A lot has changed, actually.

- The east in general is looking better, with the Bulls playing really well without their second best player and Noah going into beast mode.
- Portland, Indiana and some other teams have been in a funk at times
- The Raptors (of all teams) have been great since the All-Star break
- The balance of power and a bunch of team chemistry was changed by the weirdness of the new CBA. Watching Danny Granger and Big Baby playing for the Clippers without having to give up anything other than money is really really strange.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Back in December when the Nets demoted Lawrence Frank there was a big stink in this thread about 'em being the worst thing since...burnt toast?

Anyway they're 25-9 in 2014. Fewer losses than the Heat over that stretch, off the top of my head. This is why they play all the games.

So what happened to the Nets?

That's a serious question -- I haven't followed them all that closely. I saw them tank early, figured they were dead in the water and am stunned to see that they're almost certainly going to make the playoffs (it's the East, after all) and have an real shot at the 3 seed.

Is Kidd really that good a coach?

I think playing Livingston more helped. I kinda think losing Lopez helped because now they just play small and play the best players.

I agree, plus the team was a lot of new people and a new coach that needed time to figure out how to play with each other. And Deron Williams actually started looking like a basketball player again.

Okay, who are the bad teams "riggin" for now? Randle, Harrison and Early all looked better than Wiggins and Parker to me.

The draft boards aren't usually swayed too far in either direction by a good or bad tournament performance, otherwise Kemba Walker would have gone first with a bullet. Wiggins and Parker will likely still go in the top 5, I think.

Blind_Evil wrote:

The draft boards aren't usually swayed too far in either direction by a good or bad tournament performance, otherwise Kemba Walker would have gone first with a bullet. Wiggins and Parker will likely still go in the top 5, I think.

Understood. But I'm more impressed by someone like Durant who goes down fighting. Or someone like Anthony Davis who looked great in winning the tourney even while shooting poorly. I don't believe in players playing themselves up the draft chart, but I do believe you can see a bit of what someone is made of in their first pressure situation and Wiggins and Parker were terrible. Especially Wiggins. Didn't even want the ball until the very end. And then he barely wanted it and his teammates ignored him. And that's the next LeBron? Lol.

People stopped calling him that about a month into the college season. The ridiculous comparison since then has been Joel Embiid as Hakeem Olajuwon.

A nice piece in SI on the 'Cats' Al Jefferson.

He helps make Charlotte actually fun to watch. A good guy, too.

DSGamer wrote:

Okay, who are the bad teams "riggin" for now? Randle, Harrison and Early all looked better than Wiggins and Parker to me.

To expand on my earlier position, here's a timely quote from a Tom Ziller article:

Look at last season's All-NBA team. These are the league's top 15 players. Five (LeBron, Dwight, Kobe, Marc Gasol and Tony Parker) never played a single minute of college basketball. One (Paul George) played college ball, but never made the tournament. Three (James Harden, Kevin Durant and four-year David Lee) played at least one college season without making the Sweet 16. Three (Tim Duncan, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin) played multiple seasons, but didn't advance to the Final Four. One (Dwyane Wade) made a single Final Four; another (Russell Westbrook) made two Final Fours. (He played eight minutes in UCLA's 2007 Final Four loss to Florida. Josh Shipp led the Bruins in scoring. Yeah.) Only one player from last season's All-NBA team, Melo, won an NCAA Tournament.

(The article is more of a teardown of some college coaches than a draft analysis, but some of the points are germane to this conversation)