Breaking -- The human race has waived Josh Smith: 2014-15 regular season thread part 2

ty lawson arrested for an alleged DUI

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a torn rotator cuff, sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

Bryant, who was being examined by team doctors Friday, suffered the tear during the second half of Wednesday night's loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, though sources said he has been dealing with this shoulder injury since the preseason.

Lakers coach Byron Scott didn't hide his concern about the future of the Lakers star during Friday morning's shootaround in San Antonio.

"Yeah I'm worried," Scott said. "We all in the organization are worried about it."

rip

kobe done

still got nick "i don't miss" young, hitting a robust 38% of his attempts.

woj just said they're waiting till monday for the official decision/announcement, but i find it hard to believe they'd keep him going

I don't like his new IDM nickname, it implies that other dance genres are dumb.

lol

"i don't miss" really is appropriate in a way, in light of his gf's "first things first i'm the realest" line on her biggest song

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8D-zGZIAAAeyrW.jpg

@PhilJackson11 2 minutes ago
@kobebryant at least you haven't lost your sense of humor-pass the Mustard.

(paging heez)

Well I'm not in atl but the crowds def look much more enthusiastic. The coverage is still pretty terrible. The ajc wasn't even sending their beat writer to away games til a few weeks ago.

Gotta miss the okc game tonight. In the hills of Maine so y'all report back.

sup. so i've gone to a shitload of hawks games this year, somewhat accidentally. before the season i bought tickets to four or five games, almost as much to check out the opponents as to see the hawks (ie the motivations of a true atlanta sports fan), and then have just gone to other games here and there somewhat last minute on a whim. heez you might know about this but if you sign up at hawks.expapp.com you can get last minute deals that are incredible, just ridiculous discounts on great seats where they're dumping the last few seats they have; obv won't work if you have a large group but if it's just you and one other person it generally works. it's literally last minute though, like fifteen minutes before game time, but i've gotten crazy close to the court upgrading from nosebleed, also it pretty much doesn't work on sellouts but if you want to see the bucks on a wednesday or whatever. it's funny cuz i was considering an offer for a job in new orleans and part of my thinking was genuinely 'if i stay in atlanta i'll have a competently run organization but i go to new orleans i'll get to see the best player in the league for the next ten years', thinking at some point in the next two years i'll get season tickets wherever i decided to go. so much stuff you get to see in person at the game, esp close to the court. so i go to that hawks-pelicans game ready to be persuaded and come out of it w/ stronger hawks fever than i've had since tree rollins was on the team and i got the hawks logo shaved into the side of my head. like maybe it's just the inherent differences between basketball and baseball but i really like how playing the smart/right way w/ basketball makes just a much more fun enjoyable game to watch whereas w/ baseball so not the case, like i'm getting what euro soccer fans mean when they talk about playing a beautiful game etc. the last game i went to was this past monday, it was pretty great, young thug was a few rows in front of me, they did this great video on the court for mlk day (those 3d court animations still amazing to me), and then the player intro was something else -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41N6761syW4

crowds have definitely changed. that pelicans game it was largely true hoops heads, ppl rooting for the hawks, clowning on the new orleans coach, etc. i'd look at the crazy priced seats opposite the benches and there'd be a ton of seats empty (and i knew those seats were sold too though i guess it was corporate firms or whatever). a little while later i go to the hawks-clips game. fairly packed but a considerable number of clips fans, esp kids, kids love blake griffin. it was palpably different though, some ppl like me just waiting for someone to put the key in the ignition of the bandwagon some legit hawks fans excited that this team was special. still a noticeable amount of those paid for pricey seats empty though, which really blew my mind - you fucks can't come out for cliff paul and blake griffin? the first game i went to where i was like 'ok this shit is for real' was when the grizzlies came to town. pricey seats filled, crowd genuinely loud as fuck and into it, some small pockets of grizzlies fans there but we're in the south and cities w/ only one pro team get really into that team, it's why hardees focuses on small towns. grizzlies easily the scariest team i've seen in person, they didn't even have z-bo and they were just too big and they played that old style but they played it well, hawks won but i wouldn't want to face them in a 7 game series that's for sure. the hawks organist, sir foster, is fantastic. the only things that really concern me are our size and what happens when a team is just determined to completely knock the korver factor out of the game (or if he comes back to earth). defense concerns me a little but not as much as it did. still, love our starting lineup and budd's had some other lineups that are interesting, he has one w/ teague and schroder on the court at the same time that i don't know how successful it is but i love to watch. it's funny w/ the crowds now you'll hear this gasp and cheer not when korver makes a three but just when he's open from three and catches a pass or even just when the crowd realizes that omg korver is open, dude's in that bird zone where you just assume he can hit it every time. i can't even imagine what it's like for golden state fans right now w/ curry. korver was on svp and russillo this week and svp asked him who was the better shooter him or curry and he answered curry cuz curry just makes those shots in such more difficult situations. anyhow love this starting lineup so much, horford and millsap are great, i'm so happy teague is getting some shine in the national press, but my weird fave is demarre carroll, that dude almost makes me understand why sportswriters get all corny about grit and such.

nice

For some reason Manu saying "take the pledge" in the NBA app commercial always cracks me up

well i can see someone doesnt have appegiance

it's funny w/ the crowds now you'll hear this gasp and cheer not when korver makes a three but just when he's open from three and catches a pass or even just when the crowd realizes that omg korver is open, dude's in that bird zone where you just assume he can hit it every time.

^this is always dope and a sign the fans know what's up

well i can see someone doesnt have appegiance

― lag∞n, Friday, January 23, 2015 8:30 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Man I ain't pledging allegiance to that crashy ass garbage turner digital can tream right off next year

It has provided me with some memorable kobe and Josh smith related notifications this year though

amazing balls post thank you

i totally want to get season tickets to an NBA team someday but my gf and i both want to settle down in...NYC

lol

amazing balls post thank you

You could say it was...

...

... amazeballs.

balls why doesnt anyone in atl like the hawks

amazing balls post thank you

― k3vin k., Friday, January 23, 2015 5:43 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

sadly it looks like the only ny team on expapp is the mets.
i have copped tickets to about six nets games so far from my buddy with season access but even with the knicks utterly fucking abysmal record, stubhub seats still start around $40 for midtier

on the plus side, dude's tickets are throw-a-tennis-ball distance from beyonce so just staring at her when the nets are down twenty has been a reasonable distraction

there's a big transient pop but that's true alot of places. the only thing most ppl in the south are truly sports fans in the way ppl in the ne are sox or knicks fans or whatever is college football (and tbh i kinda doubt ne sports fans are as crazy in their fandom as sec football fans). college football predates professional sports in the south by a good bit and most professional sports in atlanta weren't even really competent until somewhat recently - 91 w/ the braves, whenever arthur blank bought the falcons. i think the braves and falcons have legit strong fanbases now though, braves were helped by being on tv everywhere and wsb had their am radio rights and their signal was insane. falcons have sucked for past two years but ppl still care, ppl have delusions and hopes that two or three moves can right this ship, whereas like nobody thought 'we'll get 'em next year' after the super bowl year or anything. hawks it's weird in that they haven't really had those stretches of being outright fucking awful that the braves and falcons had (not that i recall at least, bad years but not a bad decade) but their successes are minor. like if i think of the best season the hawks had in terms of atlanta buying in it was the year of the nique-bird duel and that ended w/ the hawks out in the second round, just like last year, just like most years. honestly though there's a heavy racial element to it i'd guess and a heavy anti-atlanta sentiment outside of atlanta (esp immediately outside of atlanta)(like where the braves are moving outside the perimeter is newt gingrich territory), too liberal, too gay, too black too black too black. there was a piece about what koonin is doing w/ the marketing, marketing it more towards ppl in atlanta - young ppl, black ppl - and a lot of that is fallout from that owner's letter and danny ferry but i also think is the right way to build a fanbase for this team, that basically the same way you build a legit dependable fanbase for the hawks is the same way you turn georgia purple.

Hawks putting OKC on blast rn

One thing I would not have predicted was Paul millsap 3 point shooter

I guess he really started last year but it's so rare that a dude suddenly starts making almost three 3s a game in his late 20s even though probably a dozen guys talk about it in training camp every year, goes along with the 15 pounds of muscle everyone puts on

In other words mostly fake

balls why doesnt anyone in atl like the hawks

― lag∞n, Friday, January 23, 2015 8:48 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

havent read the balls wall of text yet but the kevin arnovitz article was really good imo

i liked it but didnt feel very satisfying as far as explaining why no one likes them

ibaka added a 3pt shot too thos hes a lil younger xp

good posts balls

ya

man charlotte got lit up, clevelands offense finally going?

yeah seems like they might be showing signs

oof parsons bailing the bulls out at the worst possible moment

Yah. Good d on that last play just forgot to secure the rebound. I disagreed with jvg they shoulda fouled earlier. 3-4 seconds not enough time imo.

Parsons didn't need to swipe at all on that other one Woulda been a junk shot anyway

shot usually comes a few secs before the end of the clock tho

josh smith took a three lol

you can tell smoove is really uncomfortable having to take that to the rack rather than shoot it

the knicks won! they've won three straight!

lol really

they have a better record than the wolves!

well shit

league pass alert PHX/HOU

us airways arena rockin