Arena The NBA Thread

Interesting note on that one - since 94-95, no team has won the West seeded lower than third. That injury could knock OKC away from that range.

 

Pfft, he'll probably jack up 50 shots a game. The Blazers' season opener against the Zombie Sonics just got a lot more interesting...

 

He'll have to jack up that many shots because he's the only legit guy they have with Durant out. Ibaka is an excellent defender and can hit the mid range jumper, but he's not going to all of the sudden start pouring in the points. That's not his game. Reggie Jackson and Anthony Morrow may help a little bit, but let's face it, the Thunder are screwed. Their offense already consisted of just two things: 1) Give ball to Durant and let Durant do Durant things. 2) Let Westbrook explode up the court like a bat out of hell, and either take it all the way and try to draw contact, or suddenly pull up for an off-balance jumper.
I used to admire what the Thunder were building down there, but Presti has really screwed things up for them the last few years.

 

eh i don't think they're screwed. if they can just stay near the .500 mark for the 20 or so games that he's out they'll be fine.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11709451/michael-jordan-disagrees-talk-shortening-season-games]Jordan[/url] wouldn't want a shorter season; LeBron & Dirk disagree


Though I wouldn't care too much if there was ever a reduction to a 60-66 game schedule (my only real concern would be that you couldn't get every team to make at least 1-appearance in each arena, as that occurred during the lockout-shortened season of '11-'12), I just don't see this happening, for rather obvious reasons. The $$$. It's why the 1st round of the playoffs will never go back to a best-of-5 format, and why it seems that -sickening, disgusting- jersey ads are an inevitability.



http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11700335/brooklyn-nets-boston-celtics-play-44-minute-preseason-game]Nets/Celtics[/url] this upcoming Sunday will be a 44-minute game


Now that's a more intriguing experiment/idea. I love it. Why not skim some minutes off in order to make things more exciting, by making the flow of the game a little more urgent? Hell, you could even talk me into a 40-minute game via 10-minute quarters.






In the latest purple & gold news...



http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11708008/los-angeles-lakers-guard-steve-injured-carrying-bags]Nash[/url] injuries back while carrying bags; misses 3-days of practice


It's rather unfortunate for his career to end -'cause I think '14-'15 is going to be it for him- like this... his body betraying him, and saddled in being part of a team that's very, very likely to be going nowhere this season. Thus, your starting point guard for the '14-'15 Listless Lakers...



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Well, there's always this possibility too, given that reboots are all the rage in Hollywood these days...



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And speaking of Swaggy P...



http://www.hot97.com/news/ebro-morning/iggy-azalea-vs-snoop-dogg-beef-getting-ugly-nick-swaggy-p-young-gets-involved]Swaggy[/url] P-Snoop Dogg-Iggy Azalea BEEF


I kind-of-sort-of hate myself for even knowing about this, but it was sort-of inescapable, given how my Twitter feed (and mentions on PTI and elsewhere on television) has been filled this week with accounts of this drama.






Can't they just get along?



Now, say they can't, there's another player who's more than happy to be Snoop's new purple & gold boo:


.

 

Rose dropping 30 against the Cavs. my optimism meter just went up a few notches. still lost, but i'll take it just for Rose's stats

 

epic ... I will be very disappoint if the Eastern Conference Finals are anything but Bulls vs Cavs. We'll need to come up with a bet when/if it happens

 

as long as both teams remain relatively injury free, it should be the case. the only other team with any kind of realistic shot, really, is Washington, but they would be a clear third, IMO.

 

You could absolutely shorten the season as a part of the next CBA, assuming the players would also be willing to lop 20% off their contracts (signed for the existing longer seasons).

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-annual-nba-league-pass-rankings-part-1/]The[/url] Simmons & Lowe '14'-'15 League Pass rankings, Part I


http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-annual-nba-league-pass-rankings-part-2/]The[/url] Simmons & Lowe '14'-'15 League Pass rankings, Part II

 

Nash gone for the year.

 

methinks nash is probably just... done honestly. i don't think his body can take it anymore.

 

I'd like to officially declare the Golden State Warriors to be my second favorite team this season. Mainly because they employ Aaron Craft. Hopefully, they'll get 6-9 games against the Cavaliers this year.

 

To Steve Nash's back, and very likely his career: .



Anyone else catch the Grantland Basketball Hour yesterday?


http://grantland.com/the-triangle/scenes-from-the-grantland-basketball-hour-debut/]Highlights[/url]



I thought it was rather good, which of course wasn't a surprise.

 

What would the starting lineup for the All-Never-Won-A-Championship team be? My guess

PG: Steve Nash
PF: Karl Malone
C: Patrick Ewing
SF: Carmelo Anthony
SG: Reggie Miller

I have a feeling I made a few obvious oversights that the more historically minded fans will ream me for. I'd also say there's definitely an argument for John Stockton over Steve Nash at point guard, but he was never a dynamic as Nash as in his prime. Then again, if "peak value" is the metric we're using, then Barkley's prime was probably better than Malone's.

 

Melo at Small Forward? Really?

if we're going with still active players, Kevin Durant all day over Melo. Even if you're taking the argument "KD might get one, Melo probably won't", how do you go for Anthony over, say, Dominique Wilkins? Or Grant Hill? Either of which I'd put far, far over Melo.

 

i think your list is pretty good, but i would go with:

pg: stockton
sg: allen iverson
sf: elgin baylor
pf: barkley
c: ewing

 

i think mine would probably look more like tom's.

 

Stockton is an absolute lock at PG. He actually played defense, and he's the all time leader in assists and steals. Both he and Malone (the second all time leading scorer) are locks. I think Wilkins, Ewing, A.I. fill out the rest of the starting lineup. Really tough to leave Barkley off that list though.

 

i just can't put malone on it. while he was good, he also shrank from pressure moments repeatedly in his career. barkley never did. i'd put barkley ahead of malone and not even think twice about it. and it simply isn't possible not to have baylor on the list. he was just too damned good. and he should have won once. had he played one more year (and he very definitely could have going by his stats the year he retired), he wouldn't even be in the discussion.

 

That seems crazy to me that Baylor never won one.

 

exactly wht he gets the nod over any other SF to me.

 

Michael Jordan made his NBA Debut 30 years ago today

This is apparently an excerpt form a forthcoming book about him. There was another high-profile biography of Michael Jordan published just in the last few months. (I checked it out from the library but never got around to reading it). Looks like everyone's tryint to get in on the act.

 

ESPN is also doing an interview with him after MNF tomorrow.