The Swamp

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:55 pm

brian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:43 pm I can’t get over how Toronto is seen by most American athletes as some kind of Siberia despite it being better than almost any American city you could be traded to. Leonard’s lucky he wasn’t traded to Orlando or Oklahoma City.

Like would they really rather live in Memphis? Milwaukee? Sacramento?

I mean come on.

Um. Memphis itself is a pretty damn fine place for young African-American players to be. The areas outside of Memphis, not so much, but Memphis itself is pretty cool.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:14 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:55 pm

brian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:43 pm I can’t get over how Toronto is seen by most American athletes as some kind of Siberia despite it being better than almost any American city you could be traded to. Leonard’s lucky he wasn’t traded to Orlando or Oklahoma City.

Like would they really rather live in Memphis? Milwaukee? Sacramento?

I mean come on.

Um. Memphis itself is a pretty damn fine place for young African-American players to be. The areas outside of Memphis, not so much, but Memphis itself is pretty cool.

Okay, yeah, substitute "Minneapolis" for "Memphis." But point is, this is a great place to live.

brian wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:43 pm I can’t get over how Toronto is seen by most American athletes as some kind of Siberia despite it being better than almost any American city you could be traded to. Leonard’s lucky he wasn’t traded to Orlando or Oklahoma City.

On the Lowe Post, it was mentioned that Kawhi never left his hotel room during All-Star Weekend in what was an exceptionally cold Toronto weekend except when required.

Most Americans don't warm to foreign travel. You'd be surprised at the amount of military members stationed overseas not taking advantage of cheap travel opportunities to all the places you see on post cards and Instagram photos.

So despite Toronto being a really awesome city to visit, I'd guess since it isn't America there's worry there for some. Also, Kawhi strikes me as a really, really introverted person. I bet he'll need someone like Drake to get him out of wherever he's living and do stuff.

Ive had plenty of fun in Memphis and the demographics make for some business opportunities on my end but I dont think that wealthy black folks view Memphis as a desired landing spot. Certainly the lower to middle class ive encountered try to get the hell out of there (or perhaps Arkansas or Mississippi to your point).

Johnnie wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:45 am So despite Toronto being a really awesome city to visit, I'd guess since it isn't America there's worry there for some.

I'm sure that's very true, but it's really a purely psychological hurdle. Walking down the street in Toronto is really almost no different than walking down the street in any of the large American cities I've been to. Quite different from a European city like London (though in fairness, Montreal and Quebec City and quite a lot more like that than they are like Toronto, so there are parts of Canada that could seem a bit more "foreign")...

You can physically go to nearly every city on the planet. They’re all psychological hurdles

Ryan wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:12 pm You can physically go to nearly every city on the planet. They’re all psychological hurdles

Well, yes :). What I meant was that, if you dropped the average American in middle of Toronto without their knowing, I doubt they'd guess it was a different country.

But they might have trouble quenching their thirst.

RSmith wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:16 pm

Ryan wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:12 pm You can physically go to nearly every city on the planet. They’re all psychological hurdles

Well, yes :). What I meant was that, if you dropped the average American in middle of Toronto without their knowing, I doubt they'd guess it was a different country.

Yep. Reminds me of the time my Canadian-born father told the relatives up there that Canada is essentially the 51st state.

Sooo... if you ever want to know how to piss off a Canadian...

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:33 pm

RSmith wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:16 pm

Ryan wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:12 pm You can physically go to nearly every city on the planet. They’re all psychological hurdles

Well, yes :). What I meant was that, if you dropped the average American in middle of Toronto without their knowing, I doubt they'd guess it was a different country.

Yep. Reminds me of the time my Canadian-born father told the relatives up there that Canada is essentially the 51st state.

Sooo... if you ever want to know how to piss off a Canadian...

It's really not far from the truth. I mean, politically, and in terms of some public policies like healthcare, there are notable differences. But in day to day life, it's pretty indistinguishable, I think.

rass wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:32 pm But they might have trouble quenching their thirst.

I think this one went over my head... :)

ETA: Oh, wait! Is this a reference to my question the other day about people selling water on the street? Clever clever... :)

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:33 pm

RSmith wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:16 pm

Ryan wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:12 pm You can physically go to nearly every city on the planet. They’re all psychological hurdles

Well, yes :). What I meant was that, if you dropped the average American in middle of Toronto without their knowing, I doubt they'd guess it was a different country.

Yep. Reminds me of the time my Canadian-born father told the relatives up there that Canada is essentially the 51st state.

Sooo... if you ever want to know how to piss off a Canadian...

Certainly small towns near the cities are like small American towns (with variations...)

But none of our three big cities is like any American city. Certainly more similar than they are to European cities, but not that close.

RSmith wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:39 pm

rass wrote: ↑Thu Jul 19, 2018 12:32 pm But they might have trouble quenching their thirst.

I think this one went over my head... :)

ETA: Oh, wait! Is this a reference to my question the other day about people selling water on the street? Clever clever... :)

Yeah. That one stuck with me because I was in Central Park last weekend and there were numerous purveyors (young and old) of $1 bottles of water.

This happened today.

DeRozan really seems to be genuinely hurt by being traded.

I keep repeating to myself that this is a good trade on-court, but man, that is not the sort of person that you want to force out. I'm very near to saying I hate this trade now...

The Kings’ newfound strategy of letting more competent teams agree to deals with low-mid tier free agents and only then convincing the players to back out by offering longer contract terms or slightly more money is an interesting one. It’s one way to guard against Vivek and Vlade’s idiocy but it’s not going to make them many friends with other front offices.

Wow. Ok.

Confirmed - Jeannie Buss has never been to an Angels game

A guy I know (who lived in LA for a decade or so) is a huge Laker fan and he is not happy that they signed LeBron. His argument made no logical sense other than "I never liked LeBron."

WTF is wrong with these people?

Could "he's evolutionary Magic Johnson but way more multi-dimensional and pretty much greater in every way " and "he's Kobe if Kobe was so much better at basketball than Kobe" be a part of it?

LeBron has never even played a particularly meaningful game against the Lakers (thanks to the 2009 Orlando Magic feeding their players PEDs). But back about 10 years ago there was the whole Kobe/LeBron “debate” so I’d guess it’s all just residual from that.

O O

That's a Venn Diagram of "people who hate LeBron" and "people I would probably like hanging out with".

Most Laker fans are not particularly knowledgable about basketball.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:47 pm

And an outpost of Killer Mike's Swag Shop.

I wonder how much influence comes from the Falcons doing this at their stadium. At the same time, I can certainly see this as an enticement to get people to come to games with what is expected to be a very weak product for the next handful of years.

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:45 pm I wonder how much influence comes from the Falcons doing this at their stadium. At the same time, I can certainly see this as an enticement to get people to come to games with what is expected to be a very weak product for the next handful of years.

But they just signed Vince Carter. Pruitt will be happy that the NBA still has a roster spot available for Mr. Carter.

$6 Vince attends a graduation ceremony of your choice instead of playing in a game

duff wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 3:07 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:45 pm I wonder how much influence comes from the Falcons doing this at their stadium. At the same time, I can certainly see this as an enticement to get people to come to games with what is expected to be a very weak product for the next handful of years.

But they just signed Vince Carter. Pruitt will be happy that the NBA still has a roster spot available for Mr. Carter.

Bringing his winning ways to another traditional powerhouse.

Very definitely a response to positive word at Mercedes Benz. Hawks are finishing a two year refurb of the arena so I'm sure they want to increase pub and butts in seats. But Hawks are the worst game going in Atlanta aside from the quality of play. Worse they don't seem to be headed in the right direction on the court. They should go all in on strippers and play to the city's human capital resources. They'll move courtside seats.

fwiw, Memphis Vince was awesome.

Those prices would get me to the stadium a few times if I lived in town.

I just figured out how to make NBA regular season games better. College too, probably. Scrap overtime, instead teams have to win by at least 4. If the game is closer than that at the end of the 4th quarter, just keep going with the game clock off. Got this idea from that The Basketball Tournament thing on ESPN for all the washed up college guys. You'll have a lot fewer clock reviews at the end of games, probably fewer timeouts too. And the possibility of walkoff free throws! Discuss.

Carmelo and a returning Kobe mutually agreeing to just attempt long twos for 6 hours to climb the scoring ladder

Eat your heart out John Isner

Rex wrote: ↑Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:04 pm I just figured out how to make NBA regular season games better. College too, probably. Scrap overtime, instead teams have to win by at least 4. If the game is closer than that at the end of the 4th quarter, just keep going with the game clock off. Got this idea from that The Basketball Tournament thing on ESPN for all the washed up college guys. You'll have a lot fewer clock reviews at the end of games, probably fewer timeouts too. And the possibility of walkoff free throws! Discuss.

Do you see teams opting to intentionally foul in this situation? You could foul a bad shooter on the trailing team to keep them from making up ground or the leading team to keep them from extending a lead (or fouling when they are up one to keep them from making a three).

I ask because the Elam rule was an attempt to end repeated fouling at the end of the game and it still happened (I don't know if intentional fouls like this have been deployed in any other TBT game). When the rule kicked in yesterday for the Boeheim's Army game, their opponent trailed 66-54, thereby needing an 19-6 run (or better) to win. They opted to intentionally foul a terrible foul shooter on Boeheim's Army multiple times as part of scoring 15 points before eventually losing (on a walkoff free throw!), 73-69.

Yeah I could see some form of hacka happening I guess. You would definitely see both teams chucking up threes even moreso than they already do in late game situations. I wouldn't go full Elam with an untimed fourth quarter, although it's interesting. Only the close games would be affected by this. It would be more like tennis I would think. The key would be figuring out the ideal lead to end the game at, which I assume would be either 3, 4 or 5.

I liked the idea a lot until the likely fouling was brought up.