NBA Random Discussion 2012-13 Season

[Andrew]

Dude is amazing

Living up to that All-Star selection.

[dei.]

Irving is like Allen Iverson on steroids (for being fun to watch)

[Jackal]

Can you imagine him alongside Durant instead of Westbrook? Scary shit.

[Qballer]

Paul George becoming what Danny Granger shouldve been. should they trade granger?

[Andrew]

It's starting to look like a viable, money saving option.

[benji]

To who for what?

Toronto for Bargnani?

[shadowgrin]

Halftime of Lakers-Celtics. 50% of Celtics points came from the inside. Great inside D by the Lakers I see.

[daninoz]

The Lakers MUST trade Dwight Howard. This isn't working.

[graybakflip]

Not surprised by dwight's performance against celts. He's clearly not healthy to start with but was "called-out" by kobe via media. So then he forced his way to play thru injury to make everyone see that he's making effort that he's fighting thru it w/c went the other way. Again, this might fault dwight for playing when he's not healthy(surprised he played to start the season) but to make it fair the teams med staff should also be accountable. You must not clear a player to play when he's not healthy enough. Even chuck said at the halftime, that dwight should get his own doctor to justify his own health. Or I guess dwight really just don't want to be there as he removed his jersey sitting at the bench after the game, and this tweet might be helpfull.

Serena Winters ‏@SerenaWinters
Mike D’Antoni also informed us on @TWCSportsNet that Dwight’s been cleared to play for awhile…tonight he just decided to play…
Retweeted by Alex Kennedy

[benji]

Why would anyone believe Dwight on this? Did everyone intentionally forget his 18 month long The Indecision special?

We're pretty close to a point where everyone is going to agree the Lakers would have been better off with keeping Bynum. And that's with him taking the entire season off.

[Qballer]

many [delirious] people wouldve said this season that rondo is supposedly one of the best pgs in the league. i called him a stat whore. the celts have won 6 straight without him.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Not only the Howard situation, Clippers playing like the way they are is something that surely is killing the Lakers softly.

As for Rondo, well...just because Celts are winning games doesn't necessarily mean that they are better off without him. Because at crunch time in the future, Paul Pierce won't be Team MVP.

[shadowgrin]

I like how people who have a fine grasp of statistics to call someone a stat whore have no idea of sample sizes.

[NovU]

I was pretty sure the Clippers are a terrible team without Chris Paul. And I thought the Celtics would get slightly worse without Rondo. Surprisingly the Celtics are on fire these days with Sullinger and Rondo out for season.

[Martti.]

Wasn't expecting much from the Heat against the Clippers who got Paul, Blake, Billups and Crawford back, but damn, that was an awesome win without Bosh and Ray-Ray.

[Pdub]

It's not the Clippers fault that Chris Paul dribbles for two-thirds the shot clock and nobody knows what to do when he isn't on the floor. You can't expect Crawford to run an offense, or even Bledsoe for that matter, but they are solid off the bench If Grant Hill were playing, I would give him time at the point.

Edit- I know Chris Paul played limited minutes, as well as Billups in the Heat game, I was writing in general.

[Stress Fracture]

And a lucky fan played catch with LeBron.

[Phil89]

[NovU]

It's not the Clippers fault that Chris Paul dribbles for two-thirds the shot clock

When Chris Paul's game is effectively stopped, I see that tendency too. Paul initially tries to find open guys to pass to, wasting good 7-8 seconds. Then makes a pass to a player who's in needs for create-own-shot situation but fails to do so. Ball goes back to Paul for a mid range jumper or random player ends up forcing the shot. That's when play goes bad for Paul, which I'd say is the usual worst case with Paul running the play. But even then it's not a TO. His strength is in taking extreme good care of the ball(rarely TO) and getting decent shots off on most counts for both his teammates and himself. That is pretty much a team culture changer in a lot of positive ways.

[Andrew]

What he lacks in style, he makes up for in enthusiasm!

[Stress Fracture]

Is that Lowry?

[King Mellow]

LOL at Valanciunas

[The X]

LOL at Valanciunas

Whatever works to get the W

[rise]

I honestly think our win against Boston could get our season back together some. Dunlap has achieved his goal of getting us back to the bottom of the league standings, now it's time for us to boost the value of some of our players before the trade deadline. We've got the Magic and the Pistons right after the break. Could we pull off 3 wins in 4 games? I think so.

[dei.]

Vince Carter passed Larry Bird in the all-time scoring list. Dirk also passed Wilt on the all-time freethrows made not too long ago.

[shadowgrin]

Vince Carter 15 seasons, Larry Bird 13 seasons.
Dirk 15 seasons, Wilt 14 seasons. lol FTs made, yeah Wilt was a great FT shooter.

[Andrew]

Still, good company to be in. I imagine Bill Simmons is feeling a little sick about Vince Carter's milestone though, I remember him groaning about the prospect a couple of weeks ago during a halftime show.

[NovU]

First on Heat vs. Thunder tonight. LeBron gave up his 30 pts on 60% streak pretty much with his unnecessary last attempt from long distance. Though it was selflessly a right play(kill shot clock), could have been nice for him to keep the streak going. Overall, tonight's game was excellent for the Heat. Dominated nearly through all quarters except for last 7-8 minutes in a statement game. Going to be interesting if these two meet in the Finals again. Durant by now should have figured out he shouldn't be fooled by Bron's buddy-buddy tactic on him.

Second, Clippers vs. Lakers. It's frustrating to see how little open looks/path the Lakers get. Meanwhile, the Clippers get pretty good looks consistently for different players. Teams from same location but opposite basketball styles. Example of hero ball vs team ball. Only a half-time for now but I don't think the Lakers can come back in this one. The Clippers look poised, eagerly wanting to take this one to make a statement.

Lastly, does NOT taking last second shot(to protect shooting percentage) bother anyone else? Happened 1st and 2nd quarters tonight with Lakers. First it was Kobe then MWP in second. Had more than enough rooms and time to put up the shot but just waited the clock to die, in a catch up game.

[shadowgrin]

http://twitter.com/Enes_Kanter/status/3 ... 84/photo/1

[Andrew]

Needs more playing time.

[NovU]

His size and ability to score are his upsides but I think his lack of other games are still troublesome at the moment, especially his TO-prone and lack of passing game. Perhaps things can be improved with increased minutes and role.

[Pdub]

Nope. He just realized that he won't get any better or get any playing time until he gets some booty.

[SoF'nAwesome]

LeBron shot that 3pt with the intention of missing kind of like "I don't give a shit about stats" type of thing. Secondly, I never really liked Jordan. But after, picking Kobe over Bron with the simple math 5>1, he just got on my to shit list

On that perspective, Wilt & Bill are better than him, aren't they(7,11>6)?

[benji]

Wilt WAS better than him, but he only had two rings, not seven. You're thinking of Robert Horry.

[NovU]

Jordon's extremely protective about his legacy, and everyone other than pinoys(lol, don't hate, even my pinoy buddy acknowledged that) knows that LeBron is more threats to him than Kobe. You can't fault Jordan for that(or can, lol). Jordan likes Kobe because Kobe obviously has a Jordan complex. Kobe can pull a lot of Jordan imitation moves. That's where similarity ends and Jordan himsel well realizes that.

LeBron shot that 3pt with the intention of missing kind of like "I don't give a shit about stats" type of thing.

look on his face: the fuck have I done.

[SoF'nAwesome]

@benji, ya mistake.

Legends shouldn't be saying stuff like that but they are which is sad. Last week, Magic said 1 on 1, Jordan would beat James 10 times on 10. Who is he to tell that and what possible logic could he give to upkeep that debate that I will never understand.

Anyway, looking forward to the Jordan interview this weekend. Pretty sure he is gonna say something negative towards LeBron

[stereoxide]

I don't know why many LeBron nut-huggers complained when Jordan said Kobe has a greater career than LeBron. Well of course Kobe has a greater career as of now he has accomplished more than LeBron has now. We can really compare their careers once they both retire but as of now Kobe has a greater career. But we can say LeBron is a better player now. Legends can talk all they want because they have the license to do so and it is up to the fans whether they will act to it violently.

[Andrew]

If nothing else, they're entitled to their opinions the same as we all are.

[NovU]

Kobe's like a bad religion. Details and logics are forbidden. Ask questions and you're hatin.

[Stress Fracture]

Kobe's like a bad religion. Details and logics are forbidden. Ask questions and you're hatin.

Bandwagoners' logic.

[benji]

I don't know why many LeBron nut-huggers complained when Jordan said Kobe has a greater career than LeBron. Well of course Kobe has a greater career as of now he has accomplished more than LeBron has now. We can really compare their careers once they both retire but as of now Kobe has a greater career. But we can say LeBron is a better player now. Legends can talk all they want because they have the license to do so and it is up to the fans whether they will act to it violently.

The real thing to wonder is why Kobe is in any of these conversations. Clyde Drexler isn't. Dwayne Wade isn't. Hell, even Jerry West isn't. Why would anyone even bring up Kobe?

If LeBron had the best big man in the league on his team for eight of his first ten years he'd probably have at least three rings and four Finals trips too.

We have to wait and see if LeBron teams up with the equivalent for another two rings and three trips when he hits 30.

[Kenny]

Kobe's like a bad religion. Details and logics are forbidden. Ask questions and you're hatin.

I'm so glad you put "a" in there

[daninoz]

If the NBA is the NATIONAL basketball association, why they call 'World Champion' to those that win the Finals?

[Andrew]

I believe we've covered that one before in the random question thread, being one of those things that comes up from time to time. It's basically the approach of all American pro sports leagues with the common and simplest interpretation being that as the league in question (in this case the NBA) presents itself as being the best in the world and the highest level of competition in the sport, its champion is by extension the best in the world and thus the world champion.

[koberulz]

And the McDonald's Championship bears that out, although things have changed a fair bit since that ceased.

I far prefer the FSWisconsin commentator's explanation: it was named that way before Europe was invented.

[SoF'nAwesome]

No one should be comparing anything till Bron has played 17 seasons. Then they are on the same page. But it also speaks for LeBron's achievement that he is now being considered better than a player who has played for a lot more time than he has.

[bowdown]

Are we seriously overlooking that Lebron wasted first 7 years of his career with the likes of Mo Williams, Big Z, Varejao, Antwan jamison, Old ass Shaq?

These guys played with him in different seasons. How does any one of them compare to freaking Scottie Pippen and Rodman?
.
There was very little that Lebron couldve done more with his time in Cleveland.

[Andrew]

I don't think anyone's overlooking that, though if the comparison is LeBron and Kobe, I'm not sure what Pippen and Rodman have to do with anything. Of course, it's worth noting that the Cavaliers did make the NBA Finals in 2007 and had the best regular season record in 2009 and 2010. The fact they had some great years certainly speaks to LeBron's abilities and you can forgive the 2007 Finals because the Cavs were really over matched by the Spurs, though LeBron's performance was still a little pedestrian after what he did against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. Similarly, I'd say he definitely could've done more in the 2010 Playoffs against the Celtics because he really phoned it in with a bewildering disappearing act (or perhaps not, if his intention was always to go to Miami). Then there was the 2011 Finals, which he has admittedly since atoned for with his dominance last year and continued strong play this year.

There are some factors that probably don't get enough attention or consideration when rating and ranking LeBron, who has been a great player since he entered the league and at this point has established himself as one of the best we've seen, but having said that not all of the criticism is unwarranted.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Andrew, well said. Anybody can be criticized but at the moment, you can't compare anyone with LeBron and then criticize him.

[Andrew]

Well, you can certainly still compare and critique, but you need to take all factors into account and be fair about it.