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

Ed Ropple wrote:
Stele wrote:

He's a true pass-first PG, and there aren't enough of those in the league anymore.

There aren't enough places for one to exist in the modern NBA. I'm kind of glad; I like Rajon Rondo a bunch, but I'm also glad to see the "stand at the top and call plays" PG make an exit.

Same here. It might be fun to watch a point guard rack up assists from a pure, old school box score standpoint, but I'd much rather have my PF dishing out 4 assists, my SF and SG dishing out 6 - 7 and my PG able to completely break down the defense, opening up the offense. There's a reason why the NBA is the way it is currently and I think it's a good thing.

Random fact. There are 13 Canadians in the NBA right now. 6 of them were drafted in the last 2 years.

Anthony Bennett - 2013 (1st overall)
Kelly Olynyk - 2013 (13th overall)
Dwight Powell - 2014 (45th overall)
Nik Stauskas - 2014 (8th overall)
Tyler Ennis - 2014 (18th overall)
Andrew Wiggins - 2014 (1st overall)

Another 4 were drafted in 2011 and 2012.

Cory Joseph - 2011 (29th overall)
Tristan Thompson - 2011 (4th overall)
Rovert Sacre - 2012 (60th overall)
Andrew Nicholson - 2012 (19th overall)

10 of the 13 Canadians in the NBA are from the last 4 drafts. Of these guys 8 were first rounders and 4 were lottery picks (Bennett, Wiggins, Stauskas, & Thompson).

I don't know if I should be excited about Charlotte signing Lance Stephenson to a very economical contract, but I am.

The Eastern Conference still may not hold a candle to the West in terms of quality, but it sure is getting a lot more interesting!

Hope the Pacers have some type of plan to fill the Lance void.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I don't know if I should be excited about Charlotte signing Lance Stephenson to a very economical contract, but I am.

I'm both thrilled and terrified.

But, hey, Stephen Jackson worked out OK.

I don't know where to put this, but it was too amazing not to share.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/dirk-nowitzki-playing-baseball-looks-as-awesome-as-it-sounds/

That’s right. WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE TONY ROMO IS COACHING MONTA ELLIS AND HAS HIM SLATED TO PITCH IN THE SEVENTH INNING AND WE WERE JUST CARRYING ON WITH OUR LIVES WITHOUT KNOWING. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY.

Lakes hire Bryon Scott. I'll never understand the NBA coaching carousel where coaches get fired and then hired by another team and then fired and then hired by another team and round and round. Does anyone really think Scott, who has been fired from three other teams, is the answer to coach the Lakers? It is like the decision makers would rather have someone they know is mediocre than take a chance on someone who hasn't been an NBA coach before and see if they are any good.

Byron Scott is not the answer. I'm fairly sure that's why he got the job.

The Lakers will do nothing for Kobe's contract. When KD comes up for free agency, the Lakers can say "here's a team with nothing on the books, pick your coach, pick your team!" and hope that attracts him.

(I don't think it'll work, but I think that's their plan.)

LeapingGnome wrote:

Lakes hire Bryon Scott. I'll never understand the NBA coaching carousel where coaches get fired and then hired by another team and then fired and then hired by another team and round and round. Does anyone really think Scott, who has been fired from three other teams, is the answer to coach the Lakers? It is like the decision makers would rather have someone they know is mediocre than take a chance on someone who hasn't been an NBA coach before and see if they are any good.

I agree. Journeyman coaches winning NBA titles is very rare. Larry Brown did it with the Pistons in 2004. That was his 7th NBA team. Rick Carlisle was on his 3rd NBA team when he won it with the Mavericks in 2011. Other than that, if you go back 30 years, it's nothing but guys in their first NBA head coaching job or with previous titles: Pop, Spoelstra, Phil, Rudy T, Chuck Daly, and so on. Doc Rivers is the only other exception and Boston was his second job.

That said, Kobe wanted him and Kobe got him.

Paul George seriously hurt in the blue/white scrimmage on ESPN. Do not watch the video.

Sorry, Stele.

Ed Ropple wrote:

Paul George seriously hurt in the blue/white scrimmage on ESPN. Do not watch the video.

Sorry, Stele.

Thanks for the warning. This is so sad.

http://m.espn.go.com/extra/olympics/story?storyId=11298573

Go on Twitter at your own peril. My wife just showed me a still of the injury. Jesus.

Windhorst is reporting that the stanchions were too close to the baseline.

That worries me even more than the injury (which is obviously severe, I'm not at all minimizing it...but there's a pretty good chance that he's okay long-term), if true. Inattention and negligence could be the one thing that makes owners stop supporting FIBA.

Thanks for the warnings guys. I can't watch. Saw enough when it happened to Kevin Ware in the NCAA 2013 tournament.

I guess watch out if I'm a fan of your team cause your leg might get broken.

Stele wrote:

Thanks for the warnings guys. I can't watch. Saw enough when it happened to Kevin Ware in the NCAA 2013 tournament.

I guess watch out if I'm a fan of your team cause your leg might get broken. :(

You shouldn't watch. I saw a Vine on accident and it's horrific. This is 100% on the Thomas and Mack center and USA Basketball, IMO. Paul George holds his right arm out right before the injury. The stanchion had to be two feet closer. It's not normal to be in bounds and already bracing yourself for hitting the basket support.

Ouch that sucks, both for George and for USA Basketball.

I'm dreading the day Coach Pop leaves the league. Who will make progressive moves like this when he's gone?

Spurs Hire Becky Hammon for Assistant Coach

Go Spurs Go!

Thirteenth wrote:

I'm dreading the day Coach Pop leaves the league. Who will make progressive moves like this when he's gone?

Spurs Hire Becky Hammon for Assistant Coach

That's great news. In high school I played 4 years of varsity. I wasn't good enough to play in college, although I played football. I did, however, spend a lot of time scrimmaging with the basketball players at my school. And many of those games involved 2 or 3 of the members of the women's team. They were really good. More importantly, the ones who could hang with the men were generally really smart on the court. Really high basketball IQs. I'm not saying that as some kind of pat on the head. I mean it. They always made the right pass, knew when to pick up the ball. Knew when to help and when not to on defense. It was surprising to me as my high school didn't have a particular good women's coach at the time, so I hadn't seen players of that caliber up to that point.

I understand why we've never seen a female NBA player. Although it seems possible that in certain situations someone could hit corner 3s, defense might be a challenge. But there's absolutely no reason women can't coach. I'm kind of shocked it's taken this long.

Yeah, I can't see a female NBA player just by the numbers. NBA basketball's so athleticism- and size-focused that it doesn't make sense. Brittney Griner's 6'8" and 207 and she plays the WNBA five; even a middling talent like Jeff Green is 6'9"/240 at the three and quicker than she is (saying nothing of LeBron at 6'8"/270 and being faster than almost everybody). Even a spot-up specialist seems difficult--there's usually a reason that guy hanging out in the corner is a 3-and-D guy (unless he's Ray Allen) and the D part is important.

Hammon's by all accounts a sharp basketball mind, though, and it doesn't surprise me the Spurs (whose owner also owns the Stars) went ahead for this. Holt, Buford, and Pop seem like good folks.

The shoe drops (reportedly): Kevin Love to the Cavs for Wiggins, Bennett.

Jordan needed Pippin, and now LeBron has his.

I think it's the cautious (and right) play, although Wiggins and Bennett probably have more long-term upside. Win now, baby!

Enix wrote:

The shoe drops (reportedly): Kevin Love to the Cavs for Wiggins, Bennett.

Jordan needed Pippin, and now LeBron has his.

I think it's the cautious (and right) play, although Wiggins and Bennett probably have more long-term upside. Win now, baby!

The only thing that doesn't make sense to me in this is that most people were reporting that the Cavs really held the chips in this deal and could of waited until the Feb trade deadline to figure it all out.

Unless there are other nuances I'm not aware of like involving the Love contract wouldn't a team want to at least give half a season to see what they potentially had in Wiggins?

I guess the counter argument is if he looks mediocre next to Lebron the Wolves back away from the deal or if any of the players get injured.

Also weird that the details are floating out there when the deal can't be made until Aug 23.

Stele wrote:

Also weird that the details are floating out there when the deal can't be made until Aug 23.

Poor ESPN. They wanted to run with this speculation for 2 more weeks to fill their talking head shows.

I guess the early leak and doing the deal now vs February means that they people involved are hell bent on this happening (Lebron) .

This way theres no ifs and buts. Kevin Love is going to the Cavs.

As to why this is happening now I think the answer is LeBron made having a say in player personnel a condition of signing. How else do you explain the fact that they've signed Mike Miller, James Jones and are looking at Ray Allen.

Those are also among the best options available at cheap money for the kind of ball a LeBron-led team necessarily plays.

I doubt Blatt's complaining.

Ed Ropple wrote:

Those are also among the best options available at cheap money for the kind of ball a LeBron-led team necessarily plays.

I doubt Blatt's complaining.

Sure. I'm not saying they're bad signings. But they are signing his favorite teammates so it's pretty clear why they don't want to wait on Wiggins.

Grantland on Love:

In the space of six years, Love has evolved from a limited and timid rookie that averaged 11 points per game into one of the league’s premier scoring threats who also happens to be one of its dominant rebounders. ...

With Love’s move to Ohio, it’s hard to imagine anything but upticks in efficiency and downticks in his perimeter shooting. He’ll be in the middle of a much stronger offensive environment, chock full of better opportunities and easier matchups than what he saw in Minnesota. But perhaps most of all, he’ll be in a place where he can focus on his most important skill set — cleaning up on the glass. For the first time in years, he won’t be his team’s primary scoring option — he will be their primary rebounder.

Updated title. Might as well talk about FIBA World Cup in here since it's all NBA players on the team.

Group play started today. US vs Finland starts at 3:30 eastern time on ESPN.

Official group standings on FIBA site.