2013-2014 NBA Thread - IND @ WAS and OKC @ LAC on ESPN

[gothmog]

damn the way griffin falls into the floor is funny 

 

[Peep Game]

matt barnes got jerked hard. completely unfair to him. he's had a few questionable moments, but he's always been a hard player, especially on the defensive end piece of ****

hate how players get the benefit or non-benefit of the doubt based on their reputation in the nba. totaly ref bias.

refs should not be out there making judgement calls. total bs

 

[datznasty]

Why does everyone think Kevin love isn't athletic?

I'm saying. Being white definitely has people labeling love as an "unathletic" "fundamental" "heady" "crafty" bball player. (Bball code words) His combine numbers were pretty good actually, something like a 36inch vert. And this was when he was chubby

K love isn't a super athlete, but he has a quick second jump and is far from slow for a PF. I don't think its really fair to label him as unathletic. He's an average athlete.

Combine numbers are more overatted as indicator of athleticism than athleticism itself though. Kevin Durant tested as the worst athlete in his draft class. Luke Jackson scored a higher vertical leap than Andre Iguodala and JR Smith. Kevin Love is slow and doesn't run fast or jump high.

 

[gothmog]

love is an amazing scoring machine but i am not sure if he is such an amazing rebounder , i havent watched him during college but in minnesota i d say it isnt that hard to grab the rebounds if u have the mountain pekovic beside you.

pekovic or no pekovic though love is 1st or 2nd best PF in the league , with this rubio and trades like moute for derrick willliams wolves go nowhere 

 

[Peep Game]

[h3] [/h3]

[h3]Bird Believes Granger Doesn't Work Hard Enough In Offseason[/h3]

Dec 22, 2013 2:58 PM EST

Danny Granger has fallen out of the plans of the Indiana Pacers while he's been out due to injury as the team has become a title contender without him.
Granger is earning $14 million in the expiring season of his contract.
"It's really important for me to remain a Pacer," Granger said Saturday. "I feel like I've been a big part of the building, gone through a lot of the bad years and now the good. I'd love to stay, but I understand the business of basketball and I understand that I might be a trade commodity."
"I've talked to Danny, talked to his agent; I'm not looking to trade him," team President Larry Bird said Saturday. "But you never know. If the right thing came along that would help the franchise, I would have to look at it, but I'm not out there looking at deals."
Bird questions whether Granger's work ethic will allow him to become his former self.
"He doesn't work hard enough (in the offseason)," Bird said. "He's not a guy who'll push himself to the brink like a lot of our guys do. He works hard but he doesn't push himself. That's why he starts slow every year and he just works his way back. Now this year, he's been hurt, so it's a different deal."
Bird believes Granger can become the Pacers' x-factor late in the season and into the playoffs.
"You know how I feel about Danny," Bird said. "He brings so much more to our team than people realize. Watching the game Friday night, our team finally looked complete. Just his toughness, his ability to shoot the ball from the outside. What we're going to need is for him to defend. It all boils down to how he defends, and that'll determine how many minutes he gets."

|I  

 

[grandtheftbike]

love is an amazing scoring machine but i am not sure if he is such an amazing rebounder , i havent watched him during college but in minnesota i d say it isnt that hard to grab the rebounds if u have the mountain pekovic beside you.

pekovic or no pekovic though love is 1st or 2nd best PF in the league , with this rubio and trades like moute for derrick willliams wolves go nowhere 

he avged 9 his rookie year and 11 his sophomore year playing under 30 mins a game before Pek got there

then he avged 15 when Pek got there, but it wasnt until the year after did Pek receive more playing time

 

[reggiekiller]

 

 [h3]  [/h3] 

[h3]Bird Believes Granger Doesn't Work Hard Enough In Offseason[/h3]

Dec 22, 2013 2:58 PM EST

Danny Granger has fallen out of the plans of the Indiana Pacers while he's been out due to injury as the team has become a title contender without him.
Granger is earning $14 million in the expiring season of his contract.
"It's really important for me to remain a Pacer," Granger said Saturday. "I feel like I've been a big part of the building, gone through a lot of the bad years and now the good. I'd love to stay, but I understand the business of basketball and I understand that I might be a trade commodity."
"I've talked to Danny, talked to his agent; I'm not looking to trade him," team President Larry Bird said Saturday. "But you never know. If the right thing came along that would help the franchise, I would have to look at it, but I'm not out there looking at deals."
Bird questions whether Granger's work ethic will allow him to become his former self.
"He doesn't work hard enough (in the offseason)," Bird said. "He's not a guy who'll push himself to the brink like a lot of our guys do. He works hard but he doesn't push himself. That's why he starts slow every year and he just works his way back. Now this year, he's been hurt, so it's a different deal."
Bird believes Granger can become the Pacers' x-factor late in the season and into the playoffs.
"You know how I feel about Danny," Bird said. "He brings so much more to our team than people realize. Watching the game Friday night, our team finally looked complete. Just his toughness, his ability to shoot the ball from the outside. What we're going to need is for him to defend. It all boils down to how he defends, and that'll determine how many minutes he gets."

 


 

 

 

I shant quote that gif.  But I hate you, fervently

 

[gothmog]

he avged 9 his rookie year and 11 his sophomore year playing under 30 mins a game before Pek got there

damn thats sick , rebounding is so hard in basketball this guy makes it piss easy then , i dont know how he does it , he got 18 boards yesterday against the best rebounding duo in the nba ? godamn 

the granger gif 

 

[beh235]

Seems like Granger is out the door and Born Ready is the replacement. Bird has spoken.

Kevin Love's skill set is great. He actually has a SKILL set and not athleticism, which is a misnomer because he is athletic, I don't think he'd be in the NBA if he wasn't. He knows how to box out, and rebounding is more of wanting rather than skill. Even when he doesn't get the rebound, he as a knack for just being around the basketball. Some have that, and some don't. He's been doing work since college. At UCLA he averaged 17.5 PPG and 10.6 RPG with 35% 3 pt  and 61% FG.  Adjusted per 40 min, he averaged 23.6 PPG and 14.4 RPG. This was in college, albeit one year, but it was clear he needed to move on. I remember watching him like wtf? He's 6'10" doing this? Insane man....

 

[hoosierdaddy317]

Lance Stephenson's new signature move > _________

I read an article today about the possibility of Hill x Granger for Rondo. If that happens 

 

[reggiekiller]

 
Lance Stephenson's new signature move > _________

I read an article today about the possibility of Hill x Granger for Rondo. If that happens 

The salary's dont match...but if they could swing it....

Granger for Rondo is a perfect salary match.  George Hill is still owed 8M per for the next 3 years, Granger is a 14M expiring

 

[markangelo]

can't take Barnes seriously with them tight protective glasses 

looking like a swimmer out there 

 

[awwsome]

Pacers ain't getting Rondo b, pipe dreams

Just let Lance start at pg instead of George Hill and they'll be fine

 

[dman14]

does lance get something close to tyreke evans?

 

[had pants]

 

[Bert.]

scumbag cp3

 

[KMante]

Kobe 

 

[freeze]

Geezus! They have the march 2014 cover already?! haha

 

[Animal Thug]

That Granger/Lebron GIF is never not funny .

 

[reggiekiller]

whoops

 

[reggiekiller]

 
[h1]NBA Reportedly Considering Eliminating Draft Lottery in Favor of Wheel System[/h1]

[h3]BY [/h3]
DAN FAVALE
 (FEATURED COLUMNIST) ON DECEMBER 23, 2013
14,425  reads  

38 

SHARETWEET

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Steven Freeman/Getty Images

NBA  tank jobs may have met their match: the wheel.

According to Grantland's Zach Lowe, the Association may have found a replacement for the draft lottery and will consider bringing said proposal to league owners in 2014.

Instead of draft orders being determined by weighted lotteries that take previous records into account, each team would pick in a specific first-round slot once every 30 years without repetition.

From Lowe:

Each team would simply cycle through the 30 draft slots, year by year, in a predetermined order designed so that teams pick in different areas of the draft each year. Teams would know with 100 percent certainty in which draft slots they would pick every year, up to 30 years out from the start of every 30-year cycle. The practice of protecting picks would disappear; there would never be a Harrison Barnes–Golden State situation again, and it wouldn’t require a law degree to track ownership of every traded pick leaguewide.

This is essentially a three-decade-long cycle, where numeric sequences determine your draft order in advance.

For example, under the proposed system, a team that has the No. 1 pick would draft 30th overall the next year, 19th overall the one after that and so on and so forth until they've cruised through all 30 positions.

Per Lowe, the system is also set up so "every team would be guaranteed one top-six pick every five seasons, and at least one top-12 pick in every four-year span," basically ensuring that at no point in the "wheel" are teams forced to endure years of unfavorable draft spots.

That's the general idea of this proposal. Lowe's article is worth an entire read and gives a pointed, blow-by-blow breakdown of various scenarios.

He also notes that this is in the very early stages of development and couldn't be implemented until all current draft debts  have been fulfilled, which could take up to a decade.

But while the idea has gained "traction" throughout the NBA, it's met by opposition too. And it will inevitably meet even more detractors along the way.

No system is perfect, including this one. Just as the current lottery caters to teams terrible by design, this one has its own flaws that must be addressed.

One such concern is how this impacts collegiate players' decisions.

By knowing which teams select where in advance, college athletes could tailor their draft declarations accordingly, ensuring they wind up on a team or in a market of their choosing.

This idea also could ultimately reward contending teams or—to a more drastic extent—NBA champions. Theoretically, a franchise that just won a title could be drafting in a top-five slot. 

Supporting this may potentially punish teams that are actually rebuilding as well. The NBA is basically saying, "Here are your next 30 draft picks. Plan your reclamation projects accordingly."

Is that necessarily fair? Injuries creep up and free-agency shockers abound, forcing teams into sudden rebuilds. That top-six pick every five seasons exists for parity's sake, but it's not a cure-all.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images

This system is met to deter tank jobs like the one Golden State embarked on in 2011-12.

I'm also wondering how this impacts future trades. Does this mean teams can trade draft picks up to 30 years in advance? If it does, fans of the first-round averse New York Knicks are in trouble.

Lowe notes the proposal accounts for some of these glitches, including contraction, expansion and initial placement within the cycle. But there are still plenty of kinks to work out.

Imperfections and all, this is still an interesting course of action to consider and further proof that the NBA is readily aware that tanking is a problem.

"Our team isn't good enough to win and we know it," one anonymous general manager  told ESPN  the Magazine's Jeff Goodman in October. "So this season we want to develop and evaluate our young players, let them learn from their mistakes—and get us in position to grab a great player. The best way for us to do that is to lose a lot of games."

Years from now, if this system or some version of it is in place, losing a lot of games will no longer have the advantages it does now.

I honestly love the idea

 

[freeze]

whoops

cool idea. then maybe the knicks will stop losing on purpose. oh wait..

 

[reggiekiller]

It would be nice for every team to have a shot at a #1 overall every few years.  Wouldnt you be pissed if your pick was Anthony Bennet though

 

[antidope]

For example, under the proposed system, a team that has the No. 1 pick would draft 30th overall the next year, 19th overall the one after that and so on and so forth until they've cruised through all 30 positions.

Per Lowe, the system is also set up so "every team would be guaranteed one top-six pick every five seasons, and at least one top-12 pick in every four-year span," basically ensuring that at no point in the "wheel" are teams forced to endure years of unfavorable draft spots.

HMMMMMMMMM. Interesting. I like it in theory.

 

[beh235]

Maaaaaaan, F that wheel. First Steve Francis gets jerked by it and now this? Booooooooooooooooooooo