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

antoine walker probably isn't the precedent for any and every rookie!

antoine walker: "everyone should hope i am the precedent for any and every rookie!"

everyone else: "oy, let's hope antoine isn't the precedent for any and every rookie."

http://instagram.com/p/lIhaW0Ar-K/

that entire simmons column was completely insane

especially the last third that transformed from his worry about mc-w into a anti-stern/pro-silver screed

and basically the whole thing is of a piece with every spring's "what do we do about tanking?!?!" media freakout that lasts a month then the season ends and no one cares

i think simmons and others are acting like the tanking this year is unprecedented and a problem that must be addressed cuz they're hoping they can actually spin silver into doing something. simmons is right about bottoming out and selling long rebuild as a means of keeping yr job (though is this what philly is doing? unless they fuck up picks they should be decent/in the playoff hunt in like two seasons right?)(and it's hardly worse than mortage yr future/make stupid signings so you can squeeze into a 7/8 seed and point at that as progress right?) but the whole point of a draft is maintaining or achieving parity and there isn't a reform short of going back to the pre-lottery method (in which case the tanking would be way beyond what we've seen so far this year) that isn't gonna have a negative effect on parity. barkley's suggestion is the only one i've seen that i could imagine being adopted though there is something very appealing about the wheel. also am i crazy or did he not even mention (or at least emphasize) that boston's tanking for duncan didn't even work? anyhow, and i say this as a hawks fan, personally there isn't a huge difference in entertainment value between watching an awful team w/ a couple (or one even) possible young brightspots and some hope of a good draft and watching a mediocre team that might make the playoffs or might pick twelfth in the draft or might not even do that cuz they traded a pick or picks for some guy you're never gonna win a title with as yr best player, if anything w/ the awful team at least you can score cheap tickets easy.

From the pov of the league, tanking is not a problem per se. It only becomes a problem only if it drags down revenue across the league.

Does he only care about tanking now cos the Celtics are involved cos....

tanking in 2014; poised for greatness in 2015.

http://www.brewhoop.com/2014/3/6/5478088/giannis-fan-driver-arena

the giannis story is incredible

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/qa-mike-conley-on-being-tricky-and-the-why-not-us-grizzlies/

good interview

You have to think about switching that one, huh?

Oh, man, I don’t want to switch onto a 7-footer like KD. No way. No way.

thx, i liked that

two good games tonight and also the clippers playing the lol lakers

carmelo's free agency is already making me giddy http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/story/_/id/10562283/joakim-noah-recruits-carmelo-anthony-new-york-knicks-join-chicago-bulls

With rumors about Chicago going after Anthony as well as about Thibodeau possibly coaching the New York Knicks next season

i know thibs probably hates the bulls front office but f off with the wishful thinking knicks media

like if theres a guy who would be immune to the "prestige" of coaching the knicks and just immediately see how screwed they are for the next half-decade it's thibs

it's not like he's coaching a team in the boondocks that never gets on national tv anyway!

also am i crazy or did he not even mention (or at least emphasize) that boston's tanking for duncan didn't even work?

― balls, Thursday, March 6, 2014 3:48 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

this made me finally realize that boston had two utter tanking failures exactly ten years apart

which given how the second one turned out is why ainge is going bananas stockpiling assets instead of just crossing his fingers and hoping for the #1 pick this time

to me the big prob with tanking this year is that even casual fans have been hearing about the mythical 2014 draft class for 3 years now, it totally changed the way the conversation went among people who don't follow the league closely.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/qa-mike-conley-on-being-tricky-and-the-why-not-us-grizzlies/

good interview

― moullet, Thursday, March 6, 2014 5:15 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lowe's writing kinda drives me crazy (grantland disease) but he's amazing at these casual interviews with players and coaches. the casual way he shifts from goofy off-topic to really detailed basketball questions makes for enjoyable reading.

yeah it's totally anecdotal on my part but it seems like way more casual fans are up to speed on the tanking strategies, even ok with it. maybe it's just simmons getting bigger xp

to me the big prob with tanking this year is that even casual fans have been hearing about the mythical 2014 draft class for 3 years now, it totally changed the way the conversation went among people who don't follow the league closely.

― call all destroyer, Friday, March 7, 2014 12:56 AM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

feel like one of the main reasons this draft class was a big deal was because of the lock out.

that's an interesting point.

also i bet simmons has been an influence on this! may main data point is checking in on sports radio here (and the celtics, even when they're good, are last in the pecking order on sports radio here) and hearing these real sully-from-charlestown types talk about taking for andrew wiggins or w/e.

god, let these two teams play each other every night. who among us opposes?

totally spaced that heat & spurs are on tnt tonight, gotta rush home now!

i don't know where melo will go next year, but wherever he lands, a new powerhouse team will emerge, changing the course of nba history forever.

damn, thunder-suns tonight too

these los spurs jerseys ...

i don't hate them tbrr

i am not watching this game but it is my understanding that the spurs are winning 128 -- 17.

oh man to me they are the worst offenders in the jerseys-that-look-like-pajamas genre

came home for the 2nd half. lets go kawhi!

just another 10 point first quarter for dragic

chuck back on the old "you can't win shooting jumpers" hobby horse, so sick of this, ban chuck

oh man that's an awful charge call

otm, ban chuck xp

miami's tired. lol @ wade kickin bellineli

These uniforms are a train wreck

Backs and fronts different, sleeves, tops different from bottoms

The noche Latina stuff is cute (I now think "el heat" is hilarious) but not helping the overall third tier South American soccer league vibe

I would totally cosign a finals rematch w these two teams though

It's still incredible to me that the spurs salvaged Boris Diaw and he's not playing for the shanghai sharks or something

Diaw, Kukoc, Vlade: why do the great euro passers love to eat so much?

lol

i've paid attention to like three or four norris cole plays tonight and he's been horrible in all of them

patty thrills!

Wow the heat were allowed to foul at will late in the third

i've paid attention to like three or four norris cole plays tonight and he's been horrible in all of them

― call all destroyer, Thursday, March 6, 2014 10:19 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

One of our most exciting etc

lol @ bonnie prince birdman out there, guess i haven't caught a heat game in awhile, dude went burly

that was a sexy layin by beli

nice lil lefty move from bellinelli; i enjoy that dude

what's great about belinelli is that he's kinda good at everything

yeah that was sikk

FINALS REMATCH GOTTA HAPPEN