2013-2014 NBA Thread - IND @ WAS and OKC @ LAC on ESPN

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awwsome said:
Yao once he got in his groove was an anomaly. Tall as the god damn rim and had range on his jumper to 18 feet, good footwork and was a great foul shooter. He already had too much mileage on his body though man, being as huge as he is I knew we weren't going to be able to see him have a long career. I remember Shaq on TNT one time talking about how great Yao got compared to when he first came into the league and you could see the disappointment on his face when talking about his early retirement. Definitely thought him + T-Mac was getting atleast 1 ring :{
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Yao was a beast when on the court no answer for him at all only thing was the endurance...

Shaw great respect for Yao.
 
So its gonna be written off as a play on his number then... Shrew move ESPN. Get people talking about you guys agian.
 
awwsome said:
Yao once he got in his groove was an anomaly. Tall as the god damn rim and had range on his jumper to 18 feet, good footwork and was a great foul shooter. He already had too much mileage on his body though man, being as huge as he is I knew we weren't going to be able to see him have a long career. I remember Shaq on TNT one time talking about how great Yao got compared to when he first came into the league and you could see the disappointment on his face when talking about his early retirement. Definitely thought him + T-Mac was getting atleast 1 ring :{
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yao was playing ball for the china nat'l team too that added so much mileage on an already gigantic body. he was bound to wear down fast. :{ yao was my N i hate it had to be him.

 
Why Kobe Bryant ranked so low
 
By Kevin Pelton
ESPN Insider
 
Kobe Bryant likes to tweet about numbers. Now, the Los Angeles Lakers star will have another number from ESPN to serve as motivation: 25th, his place in this year's ongoing #NBArank countdown of the league's top 500 players, as voted by the ESPN Forecast panel. Let's take a look at what this ranking means -- and what it doesn't.

1. This is a response to Kobe's injury

Let's put to rest any suspicion that the #NBArank voters are Kobe haters. As recently as April, when the same panel was asked to rate the league's top players, Bryant came in fourth. Amazingly, that was his highest finish since NBArank began prior to the 2011-12 season. Bryant finished seventh then, and sixth before last season, but his efforts carrying an injury-plagued Lakers squad back to the playoffs pushed him back into the league's top five players.

The same week Bryant's ranking was posted, he ruptured his Achilles' tendon in a game against the Golden State Warriors. Concerns about his recovery from that injury -- especially at the age of 35 -- explain his 21-spot drop in the rankings.


2. #NBArank measures value, not ability

An important tweak to the instructions sent to the ESPN Forecast panel this summer clarified that #NBArank should take into account "both the quality and the quantity" of a player's expected contributions -- which is to say, injuries count. Some two weeks before the Lakers host the rival Clippers on the opening night of the 2013-14 schedule, Bryant's availability still is in question. While he's been cleared to practice, Bryant has indicated he won't play until he's back in shape -- something he said last week would take "about three weeks."

When Bryant does return to the court, presumably his minutes will be limited at first, and at no point is he likely to see the kind of heavy action he did last season prior to his injury. There's also the possibility that Bryant struggles with other injuries. Players who have been able to make it back from ruptured Achilles tendons have missed more than a quarter of their games the following season after returning to the lineup. Chauncey Billups, for example, was dogged by groin injuries last season and played just 22 games.


3. What Bryant is attempting is nearly without precedent

As I detailed when Bryant first went down, only one player in NBA history -- Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins -- has ever made an All-Star team after rupturing his Achilles. Wilkins, who was 32 and in his 10th NBA season at the time of the injury, returned to make two more All-Star appearances.

Naturally, most players who suffer Achilles ruptures aren't nearly at the level of Bryant or Wilkins in the first place. But former All-Stars like Elton Brand and Mehmet Okur were unable to maintain their previous level of play after their injuries. As a group, players returning from Achilles ruptures have seen their per-minute winning percentage drop by 6.0 percent.


4. Even a healthy Bryant maintaining his level of play would be largely without precedent

Besides the injury, Bryant also is facing the unconquerable opposition of aging, which usually makes it worse on smaller players. Few shooting guards have managed to play at a high level into their mid-30s. Per Basketball-Reference.com, just four shooting guards have been All-Stars past age 35: Ray Allen, John Havlicek (if he's considered a guard and not a small forward), Michael Jordan and Jerry West.

Bryant led all players in All-Star voting last season, so he's nearly certain to join that list. Deserving to make the All-Star team -- and ranking among the league's top 25 or so players -- is less certain. Applying the latter criteria strips out Jordan's two appearances with the Wizards, when he was effective but no longer elite, and West's final appearance at age 35 during a season in which a groin injury limited him to 31 games.

Since Havlicek's twilight years came before the league tracked turnovers, only one shooting guard in the WARP era has reached the 10-WARP figure that typically signifies an All-Star-caliber season: Clyde Drexler in 1997-98 (11.7).


5. But Kobe has defied precedent before -- including last season

As recently as this time a year ago, it was easy to construct a gloomy projection for Bryant, who had slipped to 9.2 WARP in 2011-12 -- his lowest total since age 20. With the condition of Bryant's knees deteriorating, it looked like he might never be the same player. Instead, Bryant bounced back with his best WARP for a season (13.0) since 2008-09. Jordan (14.3 in 1997-98, his final season in Chicago) was the only shooting guard who rated as more valuable at the same age.

Bryant improved his efficiency by sharpening his shot selection to cut down on long 2-pointers. In their place, renewed athleticism allowed him to get to the basket more frequently than he had in previous seasons. Coming off the Achilles injury, maintaining those driving scores might be difficult, but Bryant would do well to continue turning those long 2s into more valuable 3-pointers. Last season, he attempted as many 3s as long 2s, per Hoopdata.com.

If Bryant isn't quite as valuable on offense, he can compensate with improved attention at the defensive end. Last season's lapses and lax attention meant the Lakers allowed 4.4 more points per 100 possessions with Bryant on the floor, according to NBA.com/stats. If Steve Nash and Pau Gasol are healthy and more productive in the first full year under Mike D'Antoni, Bryant might not have to carry such a heavy load on offense and should have more energy left for the defensive end of the floor.
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Kobe is done-datta... It's quite for this ***** from here on out
 
You guys don't get it.

ESPN = Laker fans.  

They put him at #25 for a reason.  Think about it.
 
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espn knows what they're doing

espn makes the list, espn shows talk about it all day long, people watch espn shows
 
ESPN analysts don't know s*** :lol
All they know about is the Lakers and Heat, they don't know anything else about other teams
Small market teams get no respect from them.. Memphis gets no respect. Indiana gets no respect.. Houston gets no respect :{
 
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