With the pre-season underway and the regular season set to start in a couple of weeks, it's time have a thread to talk about hoops. And to start off I'd like to just say: Why?!?! Why?!?! Why?!?!?! I don't know how the Wolves are going to avoid falling into an early-season hole with both Rubio and Love out. I felt this year's team had the chance to make some noise if Ricky had a good return and Roy's knees held up, but now they're already behind the 8-ball and the regular season hasn't even started yet. God forbid this latest injury means they have to lean even heavier on Roy for scoring, because I'm frankly skeptical he'll even be able to get through the whole season in one piece even with limited minutes. The only silver lining I can see is that this'll give Williams the opportunity to develop more but then even that creates a problem once Love comes back and Williams has to slide back to the 3, especially if he was having good success at the 4. Fuck, they haven't even played a single game yet and I'm ready to give up on the season. Maybe someone else feels good about their team this year and can post something more positive, because I sure as shit ain't feeling it for mine.
I will try. If Bogut's feet hold up, if Curry's ankle holds up and if Lee's midsection holds up (all three had surgery in the off season) then the Golden State Warriors might get eighth in the West. That is as hopeful as I can be. I think two out of the three will go down at some point during the season.
The Bulls traded away our entire fucking bench who all worked together perfectly and were the most efficient bench in the league. And now Adidas is constantly fucking taunting Chicago fans, inspiring us with fake hope that this year isn't a rebuilding year with commercials like this I was 30 feet away from when this happened. Watching this commercial causes me to tear up. Its pretty painful. This comes on at least once an hour on ESPN and every broadcast channel. He's not going to be the same player, he can't play the same way, and just IF he is, just IF he does, HE HAS NO FUCKING SUPPORTING CAST. Is that more positive for you?
I cant see the video, but im assuming its that dumbass DRose commercial where he prickteases Bulls fans into thinking hes coming back this year. Positive? Hmm. If at all possible, the Heat got better. Cant wait to see how Wade and his Chinese shoes hold up. Knawhaiming?
This whole Kobe-Smush Parker thing is a little crazy, eh?While I still loathe him as a person, I've come to love Kobe as a caricature of a villain. He's like something out of a Bond movie, and seems completely unaware how how a normal, respectful human being acts. I also enjoyed this article on Nick Young.I'm glad that consensus is coming around on him; there were a few days/weeks in the playoffs where I was worried people might think he was actually good. The Celtics moves were promising this offseason. Sure, I still would take Miami over them any day of the week (and probably LA and OKC). But they look like they should be at least as good as last year (meaning specifically the second half of last year), which is enough to make it enjoyable. They seem to have done a lot of smart things: (1) Jared Sullinger has looked GREAT in every pre-season game he's played. Sure, it's pre-season, but it's promising nonetheless. (2) I like Lee, Terry, and Barbosa ,especially given that Bradley will likely take a while to get back. (3) They successfully managed to jettison a lot of junk on last year's roster. Pavlovic, Pietrus, O'Neal, and Hollins had no business being on the floor, and I don't think there is a single bad player on the current bench (maybe Wilcox). What more, they've replaced bad veterans with players who at least have potential. Only loss that looks like it'll hurt is Stiesma, who I regard as a bit of a fluke and largely replaceable with Darko.
I'd love to see Sully succeed in the NBA, but his game is all Skil/Positioning/Execution. There's a decent chance he's already near his ceiling. Also, one of his legs is significantly shorter than the other, so bad that you can see it in his gait. I don't know if his back is going to hold up through an 82 game season.
Or, more than likely, he just doesn't give a fuck. I've always found Kobe to be one of the more intelligent and self-aware NBA stars, and I think he's absolutely egomanical. He knows how to get a rise out of people, be it for motivation or just his own amusement, and he doesn't care about anything else at this point other than his legacy. The funniest thing about it to me is that his way of expressing that he is happy to have teammates like Nash and Howard is to destroy Smush Parker. I personally would like him to take the piss out of Howard a bit, make him play angry.
Given the entire span of his career, I think "doesn't give a fuck" is exactly the last thing I would say about Kobe. He challenges Jordan as the sports star who most concerned with how he and his legacy are perceived (honorable mentions go to Tiger and LBJ). According to everyone who has played with him, the man has no ability to turn it off as far as being brooding and self-obsessed. The image I have of Kobe is one of someone kept up at night be the tiniest of slights. "Fucking Shannon Brown, thinking he can take the last bottle of Gatorade. I'll show him! Yessir, tomorrow at practice is going to be Embarrass Shannon Brown day and only Black Mamba is invited." The weird thing about how Kobe throws everyone aside/under the bus is that he is obsessed with how he is perceived, but shockingly tone deaf. He doesn't seem to see why this sort of thing doesn't make him look good. Every statement seems calculated, but also reinforces all the bad things that people think about him. This is what makes him, to me, the most interesting player in the NBA (along with the always hilarious JaVale McGee).
Same image you should have of Jordan, and its true. It is how Kobe runs. His Facebook status slays me. He even signs off, on a FB status, "Mamba Out."
Maybe that's the point? Personally I think he just loves the attention he gets, and doesn't care if they're praising him or condemning him - just as long as people are talking about him. From that perspective his behavior makes a lot of sense: As long as he keeps throwing out contradicting messages about who he his people will continue to spend time and effort trying to figure him out.
I just heard this on SportsCenter on how they asked Kobe about A-Rod. "We're a little bit different. I think he forgets how great he is sometimes. I never do." I fucking love that.
I phrased it poorly. Kobe absolutely gives a fuck. I meant he didn't in terms of "wow, people might think Kobe is an asshole for this." I think he looked at it like, "People are asking me about those years, truth is, I should have won more championships but I had fuckfaces like Smush Parker as my supporting cast." Normal people may feel that way, but refrain from saying it due to, idk, not wanting to sound like a complete asshole. But Kobe doesn't. His overriding care is how his legacy looks as a player. Tone deaf is a good way to put it. He's singularly obsessed with being considered the greatest on the court and sentiments which fuel that on the court, might not be publicly appreciated off the court, but he doesn't seem to get or care about that distinction.
I might even install the Lakers as favorites. Adding the 3rd best player in the league to a playoff team usually means pretty good things. Plus Nash. Gator: Miami is probably the favorite again, gun to my head, but I'd have to think about it. Dwight Howard is a massive upgrade over Andrew Bynum, he does well to hide the obvious defensive flaws on the perimeter, and is one of the best offensive centers (overall) in the league. Nash is still an elite passer and spot up shooter, which is really all they need him to do. Major issue is that Pau isn't really a stretch 4 so spacing might be an issue.
I think the Lakers are the favorites to win the West now, but still not sure if they're better than the Heat. I need to see the Lakers in action to make that call. I think the Jamison addition is as big if not bigger than Nash. He gives them the offensive versatility coming off the bench theyve been missing since Odom. Im curious to see if Kobe will let Nash run the show late in games and work off the ball more. If Lewis can give the Heat anything inside - defense, boards, some scoring - it will be huge. The Heat's strength now will be an arsenal of outside shooters at their disposal. Miller & Battier not hitting the 3....bring in Allen and Lewis. Word is that Haslem and Bosh have been working on extending their range out to the 3pt line. I can see it in Bosh, but if Haslem can go back to nailing that 15-18 footer from the baseline and top of the key, theyre going to be tough to stop.
Harden to the Rockets. Any OKC fans want to chime in on this? Depending on the probability of where those two first-rounders fall that seems like a good haul for him, even if it weakens the Thunder in the short term.
Harder is an idiot. For $4.5million he gave up being a vital part to a championship level team so he could be "the man" on a team that maybe makes the playoffs? Ask Udonis Haslem whether or not he regrets the $5million or so a year he gave up to stay with the Heat the first time.
I don't think this was great for OKC. They must think they're going to need to keep Perkins to get past the Lakers. I feel like there could have been better deals to be had., though I may change my mind if they got the Toronto pick with the strange protections.
Agree 100%. OKC is losing a valuable on-court asset. However, Harden is a huge douche bag and is locker room cancer. I don't think we will know whether this was a good or bad trade for a few years because of the draft picks.