waiting for the other shoelace to drop: 2013-2014 NBA regular season thread (part 2)

holy shit foye

what on earth was that play denver drew up though

GiannisAntetokounmpo ‏@G_ante34 42m

Man larry bought another Gucci shoes for me,this guy is something else..!!

oh man he had a nice game too. His parents were in attendance; they've moved to milwaukee.

http://cdn2.sbnation.com/assets/3954273/giannis_medium.gif

you know who has worked his way from apocalyptically bad to merely below average? austin rivers

that gif is so beautiful. i saw the clips of his fam, love that

austin has been better yep

that foye shot was incredible

also kinda cool that Mike Miller doesnt look like a walking corpse anymore

lots of Giannis fam cam shots here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8N8iEE3x7k

lolknicks 4lyfe

Guys you're never gonna guess who is "headlining" the celebrity game at all-star weekend that's right Kevin Hart

one of our most exciting young comedians

glad to see him finally get some exposure

celebrity all star game shd be replaced w a celebrity dunk contest where nbs players dunk on celebrities over and over until they die from shame

wd be okay seeing the biebs get murked by gerald green or someone similarly high-flying

bgriff on jack nicholson who goes into cardiac arrest when he realizes he lakers are a bunch of mark-ass busters now

lol have you seen biebs has a bunch of videos of him making cool layups

is cool layups what theyre calling marijuana cigarette rolling now? bc im not interested in that AT ALL

deported for cool layups sry bieb *bangs gavel*

man if biebs got deported, can u imagine him at raptors games sulking and raptors co-owner drake has to go over and console him with free molsom?

lmao yes

hey the bison/goon mutual appreciation society reminded me that i needed to thank somebody for putting me on the iron sheik on twitter he is a good follow and was on fire during the super bowl and grammies good to follow the legend bubba

it might have been cad either way thanx jabroni

Noah's reaction here basically the opposite of the Sanders triple thumbs up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urfdwK-IC6M

http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=10401728&src=desktop

can someone post?

Consider the 2013-14 Phoenix Suns:
- Five days before the season opener, they traded Marcin Gortat for a player who can't play (Emeka Okafor) and a future draft pick.
- In Gortat's place, a guy who averaged a whopping 0.9 points per game last season, Miles Plumlee, has started all 47 games.
- So has P.J. Tucker, a hard-working wing defender who may be the most anonymous full-time starter in the league.
- The team's starting power forward, Channing Frye, spent much of last season in front of a camera as a pre-game broadcaster on Suns telecasts while he took the season off to deal with a heart defect.
- They've gotten almost nothing out of Alex Len, a top-five pick who has barely been able to play thanks to offseason ankle surgery that has ravaged his debut campaign.
- Eric Bledsoe, the explosive point guard acquired in the summer's trade of Jared Dudley, needed a chunk of his right meniscus removed on Jan. 10 and has missed the past 17 games to rehab the injury.
- Injuries forced them last month to sign a 31-year-old out of a Brazilian basketball league who wrecked his ACL last February (Leandro Barbosa) and award 20 minutes a night.
- Gerald Green is second on the team in field goal attempts and is tied with Stephen Curry for the most 3-pointers per 36 minutes (8.0) among Western Conference players (who qualify). Yes, Gerald Green.
- Jeff Hornacek, who'd never been a head coach at any level before, is now the head coach of a squad that won 25 games last season.
Got all that? Good. Now consider this: Two weeks ahead of the trade deadline, we're wondering if acquiring Pau Gasol would make them title contenders.

The Gasol framework
The Suns' season has made absolutely no sense. Against all odds, they're 29-18 in a loaded Western Conference, seventh in the Hollinger Power Rankings and poised to make a legitimate run in the playoffs. Tank? They're too good to tank. And they have been all season, despite the long line of improbable contributors.
This is where we're at with the Suns. Rather than fold after the potentially devastating Bledsoe injury, the Suns have thrived, winning their past five games, four of which coming on the road. Peel back the calendar even further and you'll see that the Suns have won eight of their past 10 games, including a 24-point drubbing over the Pacers in Phoenix and an even more impressive eight-point victory in Indiana.

And the Suns aren't satisfied. On Sunday, ESPN's Marc Stein reported the Suns were exploring the idea of using their team-friendly Emeka Okafor contract to help bring the Lakers' center to Phoenix. On Monday, word from Stein and Ramona Shelburne indicated both sides are interested in a potential deal, but Gasol's recent groin injury, which required PRP treatment on Monday, has cooled talks.
The appeal for the Lakers' is a financial one. As of late January, insurance will pick up 80 percent of the remaining bill on Okafor's $14.5 million expiring contract. And since the Suns have $5.6 million cap space to absorb the contract, the Lakers could send out Gasol's $19.3 million without having to match salary and thus save a little more money. As Stein points out, the Lakers could save as much as $4.8 million in the deal, which would put them within reach (a shade under $3 million) of ducking the luxury tax this season.
The Suns will likely have to toss in one of four first-round picks next season, the least valuable of which is the Pacers' first-rounder they acquired in the Scola trade that would be slotted at 30th as of today. Considering the Lakers balked at swapping Gasol to Cleveland for a similar package, the Suns would probably have to sweeten the deal with a promising young player (say, 24-year-old Markieff Morris, who has come out of nowhere to become a candidate for both Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player).
Is Gasol an upgrade?
For the Suns, it's all about a boost at center. Plumlee, a double-double machine early in the season, has fallen back to Earth and looks completely overmatched when scoring on the block. According to Synergy data, Plumlee has scored a putrid .65 points per post-up play, which ranks dead-last by a wide margin among the 47 players with at least 100 such plays (Derrick Favors ranks second-to-last with a .71 scoring rate). Plumlee is much better suited in a Tyson Chandler role as a screen-and-board specialist, but the Suns have needed him to do more.
Gasol could change all that. The question is how much Gasol has left to give at 33 years old and dealing with an assortment of nagging injuries. The latest, a groin injury which should knock him out at least a week, should be concerning for a 7-footer who has already missed time because of a respiratory infection and an array of foot problems.
The potential for injury muddies the picture since Gasol had shined on the offensive end in January, averaging 20.8 points, 11.9 rebounds 3.9 assists while shooting 51 percent from the floor. That gave him a 23.1 player efficiency rating for the month, according to NBA StatsCube, and you just can't find that production anywhere at a reasonable price.
That's the good news. The bad? The entire other side of the floor. Gasol's offensive resurgence has coincided with the Lakers' defense going up in flames in no small part to Gasol essentially mailing it in on that end. After holding the Jazz to "just" 99 points Jan. 3, the Lakers hemorrhaged at least 100 points to the other team in 14 straight games with Gasol on the floor. Their 111.1 defensive rating in January ranked as the worst in the league, representing one of the most alarmingly bad defensive stretches in Lakers history.
Gasol has lost a step or three on that end of the floor and that has to raise eyebrows in the Suns' camp. Perhaps Mike D'Antoni has some blood on his hands there, but all evidence says Gasol's days as a defensive anchor are over. Almost all of Gasol's value comes on the offensive end, which isn't as much of a need for the Suns, who rank eighth in points scored per possession and 12th in points allowed.
Title contender?
It all comes down to the Lakers' desire to trim payroll, which doesn't seem like a huge priority when you're busy swimming in a $3 billion TV deal. The Suns would be crazy not to engage in talks for Gasol if the asking price is Okafor's empty contract and one of the team's many 2014 first-rounders. But Gasol's injury history and defensive woes should make them balk if the Lakers ask for someone like Markieff Morris, who is one of four players age 24 or younger who averages at least 18 points and eight rebounds per 36 minutes. You might have heard of the other three: Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.
In a vacuum, the addition of Gasol might make the Suns more potent offensively on a one-season rental. But Hornacek would have his work cut out for him turning Gasol into a playoff-caliber defensive center. By that same token, acquiring Gasol likely wouldn't be enough to launch the Suns into that exclusive tier of championship contenders that houses Oklahoma City, Miami, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Suns' rise has been Cinderella-like, but jumping into that title conversation is the tallest obstacle of all.
Yes, Suns fans would be thrilled finding a comfortable seat in that second tier with Portland, Houston and Golden State. But losing a talented young player and a 2014 first-rounder isn't worth the risk that Gasol would bring at this stage, even considering the miracle-working Phoenix training staff. There are better gambles (Omer Asik, anyone?) than an injury-riddled 33-year-old center who has laid down defensively.
Of course, Gasol could morph into the Defensive Player of the Year upon arrival. This is the 2013-14 Phoenix Suns, after all.

m/l agree w that, dubs > clips tho

I didn't think the Suns season was that crazy since they got Eric Bledsoe for nothing but for them to keep winning without him is pretty wild.

Rockets giving up on Dragic for Lin doesn't look so great, I guess it gave them some cap flexibility for a year?

Lin going to the Suns? nooooooooo

no matt meant houston used to have dragic but not they have lin

ha didnt realize he had bounced between those teams so much

http://i.imgur.com/VD7T3wS.png

but now*

NBA.com/Stats ‏@nbastats 25m

.@AntDavis23's 7 straight games with 4+ blocks is the longest such streak since Marcus Camby had 8 straight in March of ‘06

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfqIiw3IIAABbBz.jpg

starting tonight

"Steve, is this going to be fun?"

ha, perfect pic

haha poly

http://i.imgur.com/w1Cw7cw.jpg

That espn stat box makes it look like dragic bounced around more than he did- suns traded him in 2011 (for 25 games of Aaron brooks lol) and he played the next year and a half in Houston then signed back w phx as a free agent this year

I think for some reason espn sorts team names alphabetically inside of partial seasons or something

I really want his younger brother to make the nba so we have Goran and Zoran Dragics!

does goran dragic really have a brother named zoran dragic that's too cool

do they have a magic act they tour during summers

zoran dragic is basically exactly like goran dragic if goran could not shoot or pass

Gorgui Dieng has been really good, probably would be getting more minutes if Adelman wasn't his coach

Is Austin Rivers better?
http://www.bourbonstreetshots.com/2014/02/03/is-austin-rivers-better/

lots of wolves fans booing wes johnson tonight, he didn't draft himself guys

Is Austin Rivers better?

"Better" sets a fairly low bar, tbf. If he weren't better in his 2nd year, at his age and with his limited college experience, it would be worse than sad for a 1st round guard pick. We should all be happy he is improving, though. The real proof of the pudding will be when his rookie contract expires.