The Swamp

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 1:07 pm Bengal, did you think things couldn't be better for the Grizz? THINK AGAIN.

[+] spoiler

That move leaves me...feeling nothing much? I guess he helps take some minutes off of Marc, which I am for (Gasol is having to play too many minutes already and that's not sustainable long-term), so hope he can do that.

Yeah, it's not anything big, except hasn't every team he's been on lately melted down?

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:48 pm Yeah, it's not anything big, except hasn't every team he's been on lately melted down?

I...don't know. The Knicks thing was messy I guess, but it was also the Knicks. A team with Gasol and Conley isn't really prone to letting another vet come in and fuck things up in the locker-room, I don't think.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:49 pm

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:48 pm Yeah, it's not anything big, except hasn't every team he's been on lately melted down?

I...don't know. The Knicks thing was messy I guess, but it was also the Knicks. A team with Gasol and Conley isn't really prone to letting another vet come in and fuck things up in the locker-room, I don't think.

On a league minimum deal and coming in a quarter of the way through the season, Noah's likely greatest contribution is playing against Jackson in practice to help with his development.

While he isn't as consistent, when Lebron gets on a Curry-like heater as he did in the 4th quarter last night, I don't know how you can begin to defend him.

Noah made his debut for Memphis, and it went great - Gasol played season low 33 minutes as Noah spelled him - an absolute must for Memphis if they want him healthy all year.

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:36 am While he isn't as consistent, when Lebron gets on a Curry-like heater as he did in the 4th quarter last night, I don't know how you can begin to defend him.

You can’t. And it’s interesting how you raise consistency as an issue. I haven’t seen any attempts to quantify it but I would guess that LeBron and Durant are more consistently efficient on a game-by-game basis than other high scoring guys like Curry, Harden and Westbrook. Curry and Harden have had some really bad playoff games over the last few years, although their averages are still really good, whereas LeBron and Durant are almost always at least good, with their spectacular games mixed in.

Kawhi Leonard is my favourite Toronto-based athlete since the golden years of Tony Fernandez.

Joe K wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:29 am

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:36 am While he isn't as consistent, when Lebron gets on a Curry-like heater as he did in the 4th quarter last night, I don't know how you can begin to defend him.

You can’t. And it’s interesting how you raise consistency as an issue. I haven’t seen any attempts to quantify it but I would guess that LeBron and Durant are more consistently efficient on a game-by-game basis than other high scoring guys like Curry, Harden and Westbrook. Curry and Harden have had some really bad playoff games over the last few years, although their averages are still really good, whereas LeBron and Durant are almost always at least good, with their spectacular games mixed in.

I was mostly referring to the in-game consistency last night. He was 0-4 from three before the 4th quarter, then hit three in that quarter in addition to waxing fools in the paint. I definitely agree that he and Durant are the guys who you KNOW are going to give you a baseline every game and then maybe a whole lot more.

Two games of Noah in Memphis gets a thumbs up from me. He’s been exactly what was needed in a reserve role.

Also, the West standings are amazing. There really are 14 decent to very good to Golden State teams. Only Phoenix is a respite on any given night. The Rockets are 11-13 and in 14th. That record would be good for a tie for 8th in the east.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:25 am Also, the West standings are amazing. There really are 14 decent to very good to Golden State teams. Only Phoenix is a respite on any given night. The Rockets are 11-13 and in 14th. That record would be good for a tie for 8th in the east.

If we put aside the fact that a healthy Golden State is way too stacked, the NBA in general is pretty fascinating. The West is deeper than I can ever remember a Conference being. It already had two great teams and eight other good teams last year. And now the Grizzlies, Lakers, Mavs and Kings (the one I didn’t see coming at all) are so much better. The top of the East is very interesting too as the Raptors and Sixers swung the biggest trades and the Bucks made the biggest offseason coaching upgrade. Everyone picked Boston preseason but there are probably 4 teams in the mix — maybe even 5 when Oladipo gets healthy.

Re: the western conference - I am positive I have not seen one this deep before.

I am also starting to tumble onto the idea that the grizzlies are legit.

I'm at the Spurs game tonight. It's kinda dead in here.

Good job, good effort Phoenix Suns front office:

Amin Elhassan of ESPN, who used to work for the Phoenix Suns, was on the RealGM Radio podcast with Danny Leroux that dropped yesterday to talk about the importance of ownership in the NBA (and a lot of it carries over to other sports). Link is to their webpage, but it's also on iTunes.

That is fantastic.

Watching LeBron in a Laker uniform kinda sucks. He’s such a basketball genius that he can single-handedly make literally any team good, but that franchise doesn’t deserve it. I know he had multiple off-court reasons for going to LA but I’d rather see him team up with that maniac Ballmer on the Clippers.

Disclaimer: I was an extreme Kobe hater, so my views on the Lakers may differ from yours.

Disclaimer 2: Despite all of the above, I think LeBron absolutely deserves the MVP so far this year and hopefully he gets it. He has 4 MVPs in his career but probably deserves to have at least 7. He could’ve justifiably won it almost every year from 2006-2016.

Lakers in 3

Miami-Cleveland tonight. The last time they played and LeBron wasn't involved, the starting lineups were:

Caron Butler
Travis Best
Brian Grant
Malik Allen
Rasual Butler

Ricky Davis
Carlos Boozer
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Milt Palacio
Darius Miles

Final Score: 77-75

Selected Westbrook shooting performances since Thanksgiving

6-23
4-18
5-15
4-17
5-13
3-17
6-20
4-22
3-20

Also currently averaging another triple double and nobody cares

50 times more egregious than harden's travel.

That game generated a pretty exciting set of SC highlights.

I actually saw the 4th quarter and OT (side effect of a puppy).

It was unreal. James Harden is really unlike any NBA player I can recall.

Jimmy Butler seems like a good teammate.

Between him and Embiid, daily life for a normal dude in that facility must be tedious as fuck.

Butler is unquestionably an asshole but the 76ers are also winning games at like a .750 clip when he, Embiid and Simmons are all in the lineup. For as much of an ass as Butler can be there’s a lot of evidence that he makes teams better.

Harden is a problem. Great game. NBA is on.

The Celtics announce no Marcus Morris or Robert Williams, in addition to Kyrie Irving and Aron Baynes, for tonight's game against the Mavericks.

Win by 20.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 8:20 am James Harden is really unlike any NBA player I can recall.

Ever since Houston hired D’Antoni, Harden has been an almost unprecedented combination of scoring, playmaking and efficiency. He’s probably tailored his offensive game around analytics more than anyone ever — hence the extremely high number of FT and 3PT attempts. I don’t think Harden’s as naturally gifted as LeBron, Durant or Curry, but he’s basically matched their efficiency levels (with a significantly heavier workload than Durant or Curry) by having near-optimal FG/FT/3PT distribution.

And he's a teammate's healthy hammy away (or really, just someone making like 4 of those 27 straight 3s missed) from being a defending champ. That's going to be the one that hurts the most if the Rockets don't ever win one.

It's also crazy funny how much he's in Curry's head right now. For no reason.

I love that twitter video clip of Mike D'Antoni just laughing when someone asked him about Harden taking 23 threes the other night. (I just searched and couldn't find it.)

Reports on the Twitter that Tom Thibodeau has been fired by the Timberwolves.

Yep.

Just maybe the NBA has a problem with it's 3 point line and it's harming the game.

I know, I'd love to see more free throws too.

...another Harden step back 3.

Basketball really is a lot more interesting with motion, post play and defense. Pretty clear 3s are about 0.2 points too valuable for the good of the game.

I'm glad you're in the minority. Meanwhile, I'll continue to enjoy watching one the best and most unique offensive players in NBA history while you pine for the days of Bryant Reeves.

Turns out the warriors are still ‘aight when they are interested in trying.