nba playoffs aka the 'offs (which includes the 'ins) 2021

well that all sounds very on the up and up lol

it’s a funny thing about the world, money only matters so much what ppl ultimately crave is respect and legitimacy. rich paul shouldn’t care about what ppl think about him vis a vis lebron it’s worked out for him 100x over but he’ll never not care

This Simmons FT thing is insane.

windy a little sensitive about questions about people who owe their careers to lebron

classic russ line tonight

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2wwU33VgAIzdsO?format=jpg&name=large

he was on classic russ hyperspeed at the end, playing almost totally out of control but it didn't bite them

loool

windy a little sensitive about questions about people who owe their careers to lebron

― circles, Monday, May 31, 2021 9:52 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ayyyyy

chotiner the goat

But there are limits to James’s political risk-taking. In 2019, Daryl Morey, then the Rockets’ general manager, tweeted about freedom for Hong Kong. At the time, the Lakers and the Nets were about to travel to China for a couple of exhibition games. James, who has a billion-dollar contract with Nike, which does business in China, was silent until he returned, and then criticized Morey. “We all talk about this freedom of speech,” James told reporters. “Yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you are not thinking about others and only thinking about yourself.” James, who often speaks about the importance of being educated about politics, went on to say that he and his teammates had not responded to Morey earlier because they had not “had enough information to even talk about it at that point in time, and we still feel the same way.”

Many liberals thought that James’s response had blemished an otherwise exemplary record of liberal activism. Unsurprisingly, Paul defended his client. “The thing about him criticizing Morey was that it wasn’t whether Morey said something about right versus wrong,” Paul said. “It was Morey’s comment affecting the environment and the business of the N.B.A. It wasn’t just LeBron being affected. It was everyone being affected.” I brought up Muhammad Ali, who had risked his career by refusing to serve in the Vietnam War. “I think there was a way to address it without—” Paul began, before catching himself. “I think people take it so literal, like he didn’t want to address what was going on in China because he didn’t want to hurt his Nike business. I mean, that’s so far away from the truth.”

At other moments, Paul was more forthright about how he weighed his interests. Last winter, the N.B.A. announced that it would hold an All-Star Game in Atlanta. The season had been condensed because of the pandemic, and players, already exhausted, expressed reservations about using what could have been five days off for an exhibition game that’s lucrative for the league but pretty dreary for them. James himself spoke up, saying he had “zero energy and zero excitement” about the game—but he never said he wouldn’t play, and he eventually agreed to do so. I asked Paul why he and James didn’t just decline to attend or demand that the game be cancelled.

“You can’t do that,” Paul replied, sounding frustrated that I didn’t grasp the obvious point. “You have to value what drives our business. All-Star weekend is a very important part of our business.” He mentioned the league’s corporate partners and sponsors. “To not have the All-Star Game, or not have all-stars playing in the All-Star Game, I think that would be a form of doing bad business. You don’t have to like it, and you don’t have to always feel up to doing something. No one feels up to doing something all the time. But you have to toe the line, and you have to be a good partner.”

Mendelsohn cut in. “Rich is the first to tell LeBron and these players, ‘You have to do this,’ ” he said. “There is this idea about player empowerment that we are taking on the league and taking on the owners. But there is more time spent figuring out how to help the owners and the league be successful than there is spent trying to take them on. And a lot of people assume it’s some sort of activist orientation. It’s not.”

“The perception is that you are busting into the room,” Paul said. “No. You are really trying to have conversations at the highest level, on How are we able to grow our game? How are we able to grow the business of our game?” ♦

when the money on the table adds up in the billions this affects how the people who aim to get their cut of that money think, act and speak. this ought to surprise no one. nba players are at least as self-interested as the average human. it's just that their self-interest connects to larger amounts of money than the average human ever needs to consider.

when will ppl learn to never ever chotiner

i think to some extent that quote can be explained by rich paul being smart enough to understand what he should and shouldn't be saying in the new yorker. but i also think that he would consider amassing wealth for ppl like himself and lebron to be progressive and revolutionary.

for sure, I think that’s sort of the thrust of the piece

hmm no the revolutionary thing would be if he accumulated wealth for me

dillon brooks sure fouls a lot

yeah i think they said hes one of the biggest foulers

i've never seen a guard foul as much as he does

maybe he's trying to wear down the refs

the tnt announcer tonight loves talking about how taylor jenkins was able to break into coaching (via some family connection w/ gregg popovich)

maybe this is just a product of how hard memphis plays, but if i were invested in the jazz i wouldn't be thrilled that they can't seem to blow the grizz out

feel like it's in that tier of playoff series where the games are superficially close even tho you know one team is going to win in 4 or 5 games. which isn't the tier where you're just kicking ass but also isn't the tier where you're in danger of actually being threatened. we'll see how tonight plays out tho...

love that Memphis isn’t fuckin around this series

it's great. it's extremely refreshing. they don't have an agenda other than trying to win the game.

well, they had fun out there

they just don't quite have the ammo on offense. i've been trying to figure out the player they need, and he's not a fit with ja, but this team could do some damage with a zach lavine type.

they don't really have any wings. someone like brandon ingram would be good for them tho you'd prob want a better shooter in reality

it's funny it's like a new era of memphis being a team of only guards and bigs. the city is a magnetic forcefield against quality small forwards

well, kyle anderson is good but he's kinda sui generis

maybe this is just a product of how hard memphis plays, but if i were invested in the jazz i wouldn't be thrilled that they can't seem to blow the grizz out

― call all destroyer, Monday, May 31, 2021 11:54 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i mean theres a reason no one believes in them despite the fact that they were #1 all year its because their roster isnt that good

lol you said it not me

if mitchell had played in game 1 we'd prob be talking about a sweep

Grizz folded again in the last few minutes of a close game, back to back. They need more shooting badly.

if mitchell had played in game 1 we'd prob be talking about a sweep

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, June 1, 2021 12:31 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah memphis had a +1 point differential this year

i mean i saw john hollinger try to reverse engineer the jazz success and what he came up with is gobert is a top five player lol

seems more likely theyre deep with quality players are well coached and really gelled this year but lack elite high end talent

however with the way the west is unfolding with injuries and whatnot i do think theyve got a shot at the finals, but i do not think theyre as good as their regular season play would suggest

and i think its generally accepted that while gobert is a defensive monster night in and out he can be schemed against

i think a lot of people don't really understand why gobert is so good in the regular season--a lot of it is that he never gets hurt, he plays a lot of minutes, and his conditioning is outstanding.

otm

i think a lot of people don't really understand why gobert is so good in the regular season--a lot of it is that he never gets hurt, he plays a lot of minutes, and his conditioning is outstanding.

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, June 1, 2021 8:35 AM (forty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also he just plays hard. i dont think ive ever seen him take a possession off. all that is formula for reg season dominance.

i think the jazz are also a nice match up for memphis to some extent bcuz rudy means they can keep jonas out there for 30-35 mins per game

i don't feel any differently about the jazz after this series, memphis has played them well at home but the games never felt in doubt to me. if the lakers get knocked out i think they have as good of a chance as any team to make it out of the west but i don't think they would beat the east champion

with Embiid possibly hurt I am getting increasingly worried about a Clippers Nets finals

out of the east team seems clear the bucks played the best in the first round, not impressed with the nets so far but they could be coasting vs the celtics i guess, hopefully embiid isnt too hurt we dont need anymore of that nonsense

barring a celtics miracle i would prefer the bucks to win this year, for basketball reasons

same i am on board with the bucks and the suns

I'd be real sad if Milwaukee couldn't get one over the next few years, but barring that I'd be cool with Philly or the Suns. how fucking depressing that last year saw championships by the Lakers, the Dodgers, and the Brady Bucs, as if 2020 wasn't stupid enough

still riding for pistons suns presuming embiid has not fractured his tailbone
brooklyn utah would be the strangest of all time

pistons!

pistons could sneak in