2018 NBA OFFSEASON

Today, with a wide range of feelings, I'm announcing my retirement from basketball. IMMENSE GRATITUDE to everyone (family, friends, teammates, coaches, staff, fans) involved in my life in the last 23 years. It's been a fabulous journey. Way beyond my wildest dreams. pic.twitter.com/3MLCUtmd6K

— Manu Ginobili (@manuginobili) August 27, 2018

Manu retiring, respect to the gawd. Now just 2 active players older than me :O
xp

brown did make a decidedly longterm trade on draft night... that said the recent history of a coach being a GM and it going well is nonexistent

I guess I'm just bullish on him overall. He could probably be a good CEO type GM if he let someone else coach. Doing both is a bad idea for sure.

This year sucks.

manu is punking us, he will be playing in october

he shd sit out til the spring imo

all things must pass

except manu ginobili who is BY LAW not allowed to retire as it violates his contract, so basically the spurs should sue him into playing this year

fun watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSpY_xKN7sg

didnt know embiid is older than jokic, also didnt realize jokic shot 40% from 3 on nearly 4 attempts per game last year.

embiid is pretty old don't forget he missed a lot of time

people talk about him as if hes like 21 with huge upside still but that's not really the case

coach nick seems higher on jokic's defense than most

his badness in defense is overstated

I’d still want embiid tho, at least short term

i'm not saying his useless on defense but physically it's just never going to be great

jokic is fine at defense iirc

does that video cover jokics dfg% within 6ft being 24% worse than embiids?

68% vs 44%

he's a bad 1 on 1 defender but an elite defensive rebounder, which is part of defense

embiid is prob gonna be in the hunt for DPOY every year of his prime.

embiid gonna have to pull it together a lil bit if he ever wants to approach his potential

PLEASE Don’t take my mans out of context because ysll know y’all LOVE to do that. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/XZaa5bIc0T

— Steph Alex 🎒 (@sbeez_4) August 29, 2018

he's a bad 1 on 1 defender but an elite defensive rebounder, which is part of defense

― k3vin k., Wednesday, August 29, 2018 5:47 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'd say he's just a bad interior defender, also his dreb% is worse than embiid's

slow feet

shams joined The Athletic, pretty big get for them

i finally caved and signed up for it with a 40% off promo.

I've really liked it but also my local favorite Wolves writer works for them now, but it's a nice app in terms of being easy to read... will probably depend on the quality of your local coverage, but I've been happy

they also got Jay Glazer and added a bunch of NFL ppl, must've got a new round of funding

is that jon krawczynski? he just did a nice wolves preview on dunc'd on.

Been loving the athletic for sure. Got that same promo a few months back.

Chriss and B Knight for Ryan Andersen and Danthony Melten okkkkk

what a strange trade by phoenix

chriss is probably a lost cause but if brandon knight can play in any capacity he's a much better trade piece than anderson.

xpost yep Jon K is more the beat reporter and Britt Robson does analysis/deep game breakdown stuff, both are really good

uhhh houston just did something there wow

theyre back maybe

brandon knight's crash from "still mildly interesting?" to FBI's missing persons list always baffled me, i thought he looked kinda good his first half season or w/e in phoenix. i'm surprised that the rockets cashed in anderson so to speak on this deal but i guess they had been trying to dump him forever and this is theoretically interesting. no idea what phoenix is doing ever

the suns miiiiight want to think about employing a point guard before the season starts

1 george hill

*looks at advanced stats* brandon knight is not good

"Of all of the players to ever play 300 or more games in the league, only seven have ever averaged 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists per 36 minutes while maintaining a true shooting percentage of 55 percent or better: Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, LeBron James, James Harden, and Manu"

woj saying the suns want to start anderson at the 4. that is a highly flammable team.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/joel-embiid-its-story-time

I
swear to God, my life is a movie.

It’s a movie.

I know corny dudes are always saying that because they bought like an SUV or whatever, but I swear I can say it for real. I’ll prove it to you like this….

This is a real story. Hand to God. When I came over from Cameroon at 16, I didn’t know any English, didn’t know a single person in America, didn’t really understand the culture except for like basic hip-hop. And I know people sort of know my story, but I don’t think they really understand how crazy it is. Because I had just started playing basketball literally — literally — three months before I got an offer to come play high school ball in Florida.

I could dunk, but I had no handle.

So I went to the practice on the first day, and I was so bad that the coach kicked me out of the gym. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was so skinny, so soft. But the worst part was that all my own teammates were seriously pointing and laughing at me, like the asshole kids in the movies about high school. It was crazy. I’m looking at these dudes, not really understanding what they’re even saying, like, Damn guys, come on, let’s just trust the process here.

And they’re just like, “LOL NAH YOU SUCK.”

Man, I went back to my dorm and cried. I was like, This is crazy. What am I even doing here? I can’t play. I’m going home.

But then I was sitting in my room listening to Lil Wayne or something, in my feelings, thinking about these dudes making fun of me, and suddenly my competitive side took over. I got really, really motivated. Whenever people say I can’t do something, I actually love it. It makes me want to prove them wrong so bad. So I said to myself, Alright, I’m literally just going to work and work in the gym until I’m good. KOBE.

I got better and better, especially around the rim, but I still couldn’t shoot. So I started working out with one of my teammates, Michael Frazier II. Remember him? This dude was a shooter. Like, killing it. He hit 11 threes in a game once for Florida. So after practice, I’d do these three-point drills with him, and of course, he’s smashing me. I have no form, no fundamentals. I’m jacking shit up. But I just can’t take losing to this dude every day. I’m so competitive that I’m like, I gotta beat this guy. I gotta find a way.

So I’m chilling one night, and I go on YouTube, and I’m thinking I’m about to figure this shooting thing out.

I go to the search box like….

HOW TO SHOOT 3 POINTERS.

Nah.

HOW TO SHOOT GOOD FORM

Nah.

Then the light bulb went off, man. I typed in the magic words.

WHITE PEOPLE SHOOTING 3 POINTERS.

Also back here in the real world: One trusted observer insists to me that Marquese Chriss will be revitalized playing next to James Harden

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 31, 2018

chriss obvs not a star but like i think he cld get some minutes on the roxs backing up capela or w/e

i've never thought of playing next to james harden as a revitalizing type of thing but ok

chriss legit one of the worst players in the nba outright but i'd imagine anyone could be revitalized going from phoenix to houston

lmao embiid

i've never thought of playing next to james harden as a revitalizing type of thing but ok

― call all destroyer, Friday, August 31, 2018 7:43 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hah otm

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/nba/players/full/3431.png

sup

By that time, I had started hearing some American hip-hop on the internet, and I’d be trying to sing the words to look cool, even though I didn’t know any English. I’d be walking around school singing that Lil’ Bow Wow and Ciara song. Remember that? All I could say in English was like “Hello, good morning,” and then “I AIN’T NEVER HAD NOBODY DO ME LIKE YOU.”