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

w/e much more fun watching Turner zip around opposing 2nd team defenses than it was watching Granger camped by the 3pt line.

turner might be the top looks good/is terrible player in the L

shump is a bad player

― k3vin k., Monday, February 24, 2014 8:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i'm not sure if this is actually true. the knicks may have just poisoned him. he's clearly an NBA rotation player imo.

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:26 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No way, Shump is awesome, just playing for a dumb team. Makes sense that Doc was trying to poach him but Knicks/Clips couldn't get a deal done before the deadline.

juries out on shump guys sry final ruling

i mean he played good for what a few months

Even post ACL he's looked like the same defender as his rookie year. I haven't really paid much attention to his offensive game, which totally may have stalled.

Weird feeling bad for Melo now, playing tough D on Dirk on that final shot, dude just can't win, sucks that he's wasting this year on this team.

Steph Curry should have definitely gone by Wardell Jr how rad would that have been

The Kings buying out Fredette's contract is an insanely cheap move

Lol compu no feeling sorry for melo allowed

Ward is a cool name and I am going to name a goldfish Ward

Jimmer is shooting 48-49-90.

xp aside from that first good Nugs team early in Melo's career, this is probably the first season where I've liked watching him play.

Have no idea what his #s look like this year (altho kinda pointless to base much on Knicks players stats) but seems like he's leaning on his mid-range / inside game more, which is something he's should've done HIS WHOLE CAREER. Seems a little bulkier this year, too.

I mean ffs gun charges, Chris Smith, hobbled Chandler, Shump not vibing, cooked Metta, cooked Amar'e, etc. And JR Smith is still fucking with opponent's apparel. After being fined $50,000 for it. Just sad watching Melo play decent defense trying to carry all this.

mr. gun charges is starting tomorrow night btw.

!

Has L&O already covered the athlete-with-gun storyline when Plax went through it?

Oh wait I guess L&O doesn't run anymore, guess it'd have to be SVU.

It’s unclear why Raymondo-Felton — a first-year student at Fordham Law School — picked Monday night to finally rat him out.

lol NYPost never change.

Lol compu no feeling sorry for melo allowed

― z-time champion (agent hibachi), Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:34 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

never forget melo threw a huge temper tantrum and forced his way to ny and made the basketball media intolerable for months, he is having a v good year tho lol

yes let's not shed many tears for carmello.

and now he's going to force his way out of ny, maybe? lol.

well he can just leave

he'll stay. knicks are a band-of-brothers, through good times and bad times.

http://shatterthebackboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Knicks-Letter.jpg

Interested to see where Jimmer goes.

mormon heaven

CLASSIC ISH smith moment

harden's got 27 with 9 mins left in the second quarter

wow, too bad that's a blowout, i'd like to see harden go at 60

love with 28-13-9 2 mins left

man love is really nuts this year

harden has 30-1-6-2 at the half

If this Suns team doesn't make the playoffs :(

they would be 3rd in the east right now

Perk out for 6 weeks (first good injury news of the season)

great bench

http://www.82games.com/1314/1314MIN.HTM

haha yeah xp now fisher plz

harden in february

29.0/3.9/5.6/2.1
.487/.446/.920

yeah dude has been going hammer

Sell the Knicks, move them to Seattle. #hoopideas

glad harden is back on track

yeah all bad defense is glossed over and pardoned when you have numbers like that

a brow future

Tracking Anthony Davis' greatness
All numbers show Pelicans' big man will be NBA's best player in time
Updated: February 26, 2014, 12:45 PM ET
By Kevin Pelton | ESPN Insider

Anthony Davis seems destined to be the NBA's best player at some point later this decade.
Since before Andrew Wiggins & Co. even played a college game, the hype around this year's crop of NCAA freshmen has been unprecedented because of what they might someday become in the NBA. But what if the next great player is already in the league? The numbers say he is.

Anthony Davis' NBA career hasn't exactly taken place in obscurity. He was the consensus No. 1 pick in the draft and was one of two second-year players chosen for the All-Star Game earlier this month. While the New Orleans Pelicans' national TV appearances tonight and Friday are just their second and third of the season, Davis has made the Pelicans favorites on NBA League Pass.

Still, the enormity of Davis' ability hasn't necessarily sunk in. He has demonstrated the potential to be not just one of the best players in the league, but the very best -- and one of the best players ever.

Precocious success

Davis won't be able to celebrate Mardi Gras in a bar, since he doesn't turn 21 until March 11. He's still more than two years younger than Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, the other sophomore All-Star, and more than a year younger than Creighton forward Doug McDermott, this season's likely NCAA Player of the Year.

At every point since he enrolled at Kentucky, Davis has been ahead of his peers at the same age. Remember, Davis and Kevin Durant are the lone two freshmen ever to win the Naismith and Wooden awards, a feat that appears unlikely to be repeated this season. Davis capped his season by leading the Wildcats to the title and joining Carmelo Anthony and Pervis Ellison as the three freshmen to win Most Outstanding Player in the last 70 years.

Though Davis' rookie season was hampered by a series of injures, he still managed to post the best PER ever by a player in his age-19 season (as determined by age on Feb. 1), per Basketball-Reference.com. Davis is repeating the feat this year among 20-year-olds. Even more impressive is the list if we open it up to players 21 and younger, allowing the inclusion of players who spent more than two seasons in college.

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

Davis already ranks third, trailing Shaquille O'Neal's second season and LeBron James' third, and is ahead of some of the NBA's brightest stars, including any of Durant's first three years, Magic Johnson's first two or Michael Jordan's rookie campaign. Of the seven previous players to surpass a 25 PER by their age-21 season, all of them won MVPs except Durant (who might this season) and John Drew (whose career was limited and eventually ended by cocaine addiction). That's the kind of elite company in which Davis should be considered.

The one caveat

So far, Davis' team impact doesn't seem to be as large as his individual statistics would suggest. Different versions of regularized adjusted plus-minus (RAPM), which adjust New Orleans' performance with and without Davis for his teammates and opponents, shows him as an average contributor (via the Talking Practice blog) or worse (via from NBA consultant Jeremias Engelmann).

Both versions agree that, despite his blocks, Davis remains a below-average defender. That makes sense in the context of the Pelicans' leaky defense, which ranks just outside the league's bottom five in points allowed per possession. Davis has been unable to overcome the New Orleans' defensive scheme.

Poor plus-minus is hardly surprising for a young player, let alone alarming. The most similar example is Durant, who rated 1.5 points worse than average per 100 possessions in his second season, per Engelmann. That famously prompted former NBA consultant Wayne Winston to say on TrueHoop he wouldn't want Durant on his team. By his third season, Durant looked like a superstar in both box score and plus-minus measures. If Davis continues to lag next season, there will be cause for concern. For now, it's part of the development process.

Projecting forward

Davis is four and a half years younger than Durant, a slightly larger gap than the one between Durant and James. As Durant has played his way into the question of the league's best player this season, Davis could do the same sometime late this decade. Consider the graphic below on how his rapid development tracks with James and Durant early in their careers.

http://i.imgur.com/d6EadUE.jpg

The most surprising aspect of the long-term outlook for Davis from my SCHOENE projection system is that he could eventually flirt with 30 points per game. That prospect makes a bit more sense in the context of how other big men have developed late as scorers.

Davis is most frequently compared to Kevin Garnett, another lanky, athletic post player. At the same age, however, Davis is far ahead of Garnett (who topped out at 24.2 points per game) as a scorer. He's averaging 20.6 points per 36 minutes this season, a leap of 3.7 from his rookie campaign. During his second year, Garnett's per-36 average was just 16.0 points, and he didn't surpass 20 until his fifth campaign and age 23.

It's not just Garnett. Kevin Love, the league's highest-scoring big man at 26.5 PPG, averaged 17.7 points per 36 minutes in his second season. The only post player to outscore Davis at the same age in the past three decades was O'Neal, who averaged 22.2 points per 36 minutes as a rookie.

Imagine that Davis develops into a top-5 scorer, a game-changing defender and a dominant rebounder. The flashes of brilliance he demonstrates on a nightly basis make that easy, if you try. That's Davis' MVP-caliber upside, one he's right on track to reaching.

Anthony Davis seems destined to be the NBA's best player at some point later this decade.

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

Normally there's nothing less funny than Simmons trying to be funny but this actually made me chuckle

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nba-bag-volume-1/

Q: After porn star Ava Devine offered to have sex with every player on the Cavs team if they made the playoffs, they won 5 in a row before tailing off. How is this not a bigger story? How would you rank the current Cavs roster, in order from least likely to most likely, to follow-up on this offer should the Cavs make the playoffs? Anthony Bennett has to be most likely, right?
—Jim, Cleveland

SG: Since it’s the NBA, I’m going with “every player is the most likely.” But I’m glad you brought this up. Lord knows I’ve made enough “God Hates Cleveland” jokes, but if the Cavs are making a crazy playoff push during that final week, can you imagine First Take right before the 82nd game?

Stephen A: I don’t care what the girl said, I don’t care how well the Cleveland Cavaliers happen to be playing right now … YOU CANNOT PROMISE SEX ACTS AS COMPENSATION FOR AN ACCOMPLISHED DEED, that is absolutely ILLEGAL! That is prostitution, Skip! The Cleveland Cavaliers CANNOT CASH IN THAT OFFER! I do not CARE if she made it, I do not CARE if she wants to deliver it, I do not CARE if she wants to keep it DISCREET! That offer has to go by the wayside. Adam Silver CANNOT allow those shenanigans in the National Basketball Association.

Skip: I’m gonna go the other way, Stephen A.

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish!

Stephen: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skip: Lemme finish, please.

Stephen: Go ahead.

Skip: An offer was made. Terms were set. The Cavaliers are close to achieving those terms.

Stephen: No! NO, SKIP! NO!

Skip: Ava Devine is a consenting adult. The Cavaliers are consenting adults.

Stephen: Not Anthony Bennett!

Skip: He’s 20!

Stephen: HE CAN’T DRINK YET!

Skip: He’s 20, and if he wants to have sex with Ava Devine, you can’t stop him and neither can I!

(QUICK CUT TO THE TEST PATTERN.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/the-nba-started-selling-jason-collins--no--98-brooklyn-nets-jersey--and-it-was-the-league-s-best-seller-in-its-first-day-051527456.html

this is awesome

wow bitchin

Mark Medina ‏@MarkG_Medina 4m

Wesley Johnson is guarding Marc Gasol tonight, not Zach Randolph

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/the-nba-started-selling-jason-collins--no--98-brooklyn-nets-jersey--and-it-was-the-league-s-best-seller-in-its-first-day-051527456.html

this is awesome

― Clay, Wednesday, February 26, 2014 6:17 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3

Kinda shocked that a team didn't try to grab him earlier if just for business reasons, like the fuck do half of these teams care about their last roster spot atm in the season.

Also Kevin Pelton otm, although don't think it's very challopsy to point out. Not a stretch to say that, if you were building a team for the next five years, the top three to build around would be LeBron - Durant - Davis.