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

[noblekane]

LOL the hate from some of you be so strong

Its not hate if its true

That nerd from degrassi should have finished the job

 

[awwsome]

I just want McLemore to spend a summer learning how to dribble so he can start putting dudes on posters in-game.

Guy is on a trampoline, it's almost like he doesn't even know his own strength.

 

[nelson999]

I just want McLemore to spend a summer learning how to dribble so he can start putting dudes on posters in-game.

Guy is on a trampoline, it's almost like he doesn't even know his own strength.

Definitely.  His hands are 

 

[sooperhooper]

I know your shtick, so I'm done after this comment:
People who aren't familiar with the difficulty of a feat may not fully appreciate it nor respect it. I've been hooping for over 20 years so I recognize the skill required to do a certain dunk. A person that has never hooped a day in their life, let's say your accountant, Mrs. Johnson, wouldn't be impressed at all because she doesn't realize the physical ability and coordination required to complete such a dunk. I'm sure some of you dudes aren't hoopers so all you can do is hate from the sidelines.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh Magic

But....Wall

I damn sure thought he was gonna break that out last night.

 

[shoeking2101]

This dunk contest is already getting slighted deservingly so though.

The format was horrible, especially the 3 man freestyle thing or whatever. But a lot of those dunks were really good and if they were done individually, we would be singing a totally different tune about the dunk contest last night. Did you guys not see what Lillard, Ben Mac, Wall, T Ross, and PG were doing during that freestyle session? I would go as far as to say most of the dunks last night were really good.

And the notion that there isn't much left to do is also pretty silly. Both Wall and PG did something that has never ever been done before. Ben Mac off of sheer bounce was incredible.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

^ Yea I am mad that people didn't really get to see McLemore do his thing forreal. No doubt he could have won it all in a real contest

 

[sooperhooper]

We need to start a petition for the dunk contest to be performed again with the og format... and no Harrison Barnes.

 

[sohoguy]

Barnes did as bad as the birdman in this contest. Shouldn't even be allowed in the arena to watch all star weekend.

 

[victor page]

Signs of change in the NBA

It felt like the opening scene in "The Godfather," with people requesting audiences with Don Corleone during his daughter's wedding. Kevin Durant  made his way toward an immaculate white couch where Michael Jordan  was sitting in the back of his shoe brand's party.

Jordan stood up, they shook hands and hugged, exchanged a few words, then Jordan nodded his approval at Durant, then tapped his temple with his index finger. You didn't have to hear the conversation to understand the respect flowing between the two.

Then it struck me that Durant and his contemporaries are two generations removed from Jordan. How did we get that far this fast?

With All-Star mainstays such as Kobe Bryant  and Tim Duncan  not present this year, the number of All-Stars who played in the NBA at the same time as Michael Jordan was down to three: Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki  and Tony Parker. If you refuse to acknowledge any part of Jordan's career after Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, the number drops to zero.

"Speed" isn't an adjective that usually comes to mind in this distinctive city, which seems to have every clock set to the pace of the Mississippi River that ambles through it. And All-Star Weekends in general mean slower traffic and longer waits. There's something different this time, a tempo that neither this town nor this event could detain.

"The rate of change is accelerating," said Adam Silver, the newly ascended NBA commissioner.

Whether it's by action or perception, the NBA is rapidly moving in a new direction. It's evident if you pay attention to the details, such as the Photoshopped presence of Silver's signature on the NBA balls dribbled by the giant images of All-Star players plastered outside the Smoothie King Center. The Smoothie King Center is another example of change: finally the New Orleans Arena has a naming rights sponsor. Expect more money to rush into the league through more avenues, including sponsor logos on jerseys, a move that Silver said "ultimately will happen."

Elsewhere this weekend there was talk of a lucrative future, with whispers of more and more franchises hitting the billion-dollar valuation mark, licensing revenue increases of 25 percent or so and TV rights deals that could double the current annual revenue of almost $1 billion a year.

If the David Stern era was defined by the transformation of an afterthought league into a powerful global brand, the Silver years could very well be about finding more ways to cash in on it. What's amazing is how quickly the league seems to have moved on from Stern. I thought the shadow cast by Stern's 30-year reign would loom over the event. But with Stern not around (a calculated move to avoid turning everything into a retrospective), the NBA amazingly fast-forwarded to Silver's league. His introductory news conference ditched the table-and-vinyl-backdrop to have Silver stand at a podium in front of a giant electronic screen filled with the NBA logo. Stern made it impossible to separate the NBA from his personality. Silver injected his personal story into the narrative. He's the youngest of four children from divorced parents, a reformed Knicks fan, a Duke graduate who went there when the ACC was loaded with future Hall of Famers such as Michael Jordan and Ralph Sampson. I learned more about Silver's life in three minutes than I did about Stern in 30 years.

 

[ballinsam23]

Man I hope Ben Shaqlemore takes that next step.

Dude has all the tools, just needs to work on his handle and get some kind of go2 move.

 

[dman14]

at you guys complaining about the dunk contest
if magic johnson says the contest is back, then it is back

View media item 806281

 

[nelson999]

Man I hope Ben Shaqlemore takes that next step.

Dude has all the tools, just needs to work on his handle and get some kind of go2 move.

exactly. The shooting stroke and athleticism is just insane. He just turned 21 this week so there's definitely time to put it together, i hope it happens.

 

[noblekane]

Why was magic a judge of a dunk contest tho? U had nique, dr j, then.......magic. One of these does not go with the others

 

[dman14]

Why was magic a judge of a dunk contest tho? U had nique, dr j, then.......magic. One of these does not go with the others

had nique saying "im an east guy" the whole night
dr j talking like a 21 yo "that was sicker than sick"
and magic

they should go back to the traditional format and let guys dunk
it was really A DUNK contest

 

[noblekane]

Who was the one guy one year who did the dunk over the little boys circle jerk? That was one of the most overrated dunks ever

 

[don ramon]

rewatching the entire last night's show right now on nbatv and godamn was nick cannon terrible

he's such a jive *** turkey 

 

 

[nelson999]

 
rewatching the entire show right now on nbatv and godamn was nick cannon terrible

Yea i knew right when i saw that guy that i had probably made a mistake by wasting my time watching this event Live and not on DVR

 

[grandtheftbike]

the dunk contest aint a dunk contest without the 1-10 scale

 

[sea manup]

no idea why they had ipads with an east vs west app rather than having a piece of double sided cardboard

 

[Bert.]

at you guys complaining about the dunk contest
if magic johnson says the contest is back, then it is back

View media item 806281

he says its back every single year...

 

[PRIME]

Some people are just od negative. If a player did a 720 from the free throw line while taking it through the legs twice, certain cats would be in here like "that's nothing, on nba jam cats like Harold miner were doing front flips while dunking, and the ball was on fire. Miner is only 6'1" and that's what i call impressive. If guys in this day and age can't out do a video game from 1994,what's the point of me even watching it?"

That's exactly how some of you couch coaches sound. J Wall did a dunk that's never been done in the nba contest and he did it on the first try, and yall still got something bad to say. I swear, some of yall only act like there's only 2 dunks in life that are worthy of garnering any emotion other than hate. I REALLY want to see some of you on the court.

And please stop with the one on one talk. No way in life will it happen.

Thank you

 

[Retroballer]

If they keep the dunk contest like this. Add two more. Then have the winners of the dunk off faceoff for a true champ. Not just wall being dunker of the night

 

[bhzmafia14]

Is there any particular reason why they don't use more recent players for the dunk contest? I understand using legends, but how about Vince Carter? He's talked about year after year after year as actually doing the dunk contest justice. I think it makes sense to have him as a judge. Jason Richardson? Magic Johnson just didn't make any sense at all. Maybe do the judges by generations. One from the 80's, 90's and one from the 2000's?

 

[duba169]

no idea why they had ipads with an east vs west app rather than having a piece of double sided cardboard

The same answer to most questions. Money.

I can understand people that get all pissed when people complain about the nba not being as good as the 90s (eveif its true) But you can't get bent out of shape about people talking about how horrid and disgustingly bad this contest was. Sometimes criticism is well deserved and not people being salty or haters.