Official NBA 2012-2013 Season Thread

[kevin cleveland]

As for Valanciunas, the promising Raptors big man who's been averaging a 15-7 since mid-March, here's a true story: When Sam Presti was quietly shopping James Harden last October, he called Toronto to feel out a Jonas package. And got rebuffed. Quickly. Our pal Chris Broussard told me this one and nearly made my eyeballs fly out of my head. But I got it confirmed — it's true.

Oh boy.

New post-lockout NBA reality no. 2: You definitely shouldn't pay $8 million a year for non-impact perimeter players (Caron Butler alert!); you probably shouldn't pay $13 million a year for Luol Deng or Andre Iguodala (sorry, fellas); and you DEFINITELY shouldn't pay Rudy Gay $18 million a year unless you're forced to at gunpoint. There's too much available cheap perimeter labor for defense and 3s.

I feel like I've been saying something along these lines for a long time now.

43. Kenneth Faried
Our youngest winner of the David West Award, given annually to an under-the-radar, undeniably lovable player who generates so much "underrated" buzz that he inadvertently becomes a little overrated.

Totally agree. And I blame many of you for tainting two of my favorite dudes.

39. Boogie Cousins
I'm sitting here in the Boogie Bandwagon with some of his family members, a few of his buddies in high school, a couple of his old Kentucky teammates and John Wall's face on Skype. There are only like 20 of us left. Three years into the Boogie experience, here's what we're getting: 17 and 10 every night; 47 percent shooting (subpar for a low-post guy); some of the most lackadaisacal/atrocious/mindblowingly bad pick-and-roll defense you'll ever see; lousy body language; a few blowups and tantrums, followed by seemingly sincere public apologies to whomever may have been offended; and many more losses than wins. Where are you going if he's your best guy or your second-best guy? Here's your answer: the lottery.

I know all of this.

But I've also been following the NBA for too damned long. It's nearly impossible to find big guys who can run the floor, rebound, pass and score down low. How much can you blame on Cousins, anyway? Here's what Sacramento offered him these past three years: shoddy coaching, an inept front office with no plan, broke/negligent/incompetent owners, a franchise in flux, a Seattle move looming, a never-ending slew of lawsuits and press conferences, and a roster of me-first pickup players and Good Stats/Bad Team guys, none of whom had the chops or the wherewithal to make Cousins better. There's only one way Boogie's situation could have been worse: if the Kings hired a training staff that urged players to eat fried food, smoke cigarettes, quit stretching and switch from coffee to cocaine. And actually, they may have done that and I just missed the story.

I'm still betting on Boogie, but really, I'm betting on history. C-Webb needed Sacramento. Spree and Bernard needed New York. Z-Bo needed the Grizzlies. Sheed needed the Pistons. Rodman needed Jordan and Phil. Iverson needed Larry Brown. Rick Barry needed Al Attles. Derrick Coleman never found what he needed, and that proves my point, too. The belated success of an NBA head case hinges on the city and the situation. And it usually happens later in his career, after he's blown it somewhere else. It's going to happen for Boogie at some point … I just don't know when. But it's happening. Did you see him tear up the Clippers on Wednesday night in what may have been Sacramento's final home game ever? Thirty-six points, 22 rebounds, real passion spilling out of him on every possession. That game was everything I ever wanted from Boogie Cousins. I still believe. I'm keeping my bandwagon seat.

 

[noblekane]

Exactly. Not to mention, he's gotten more endorsements here than he ever has before, he's probably going to get a say in picking the next coach and clearly has influence over personnel moves here. I just don't see any place that would be a better situation for him.

yup cliff paul ring a bell? lol

 

[Deleted member 38182]

39. Boogie Cousins
I'm sitting here in the Boogie Bandwagon with some of his family members, a few of his buddies in high school, a couple of his old Kentucky teammates and John Wall's face on Skype. There are only like 20 of us left. Three years into the Boogie experience, here's what we're getting: 17 and 10 every night; 47 percent shooting (subpar for a low-post guy); some of the most lackadaisacal/atrocious/mindblowingly bad pick-and-roll defense you'll ever see; lousy body language; a few blowups and tantrums, followed by seemingly sincere public apologies to whomever may have been offended; and many more losses than wins. Where are you going if he's your best guy or your second-best guy? Here's your answer: the lottery.

I know all of this.

But I've also been following the NBA for too damned long. It's nearly impossible to find big guys who can run the floor, rebound, pass and score down low. How much can you blame on Cousins, anyway? Here's what Sacramento offered him these past three years: shoddy coaching, an inept front office with no plan, broke/negligent/incompetent owners, a franchise in flux, a Seattle move looming, a never-ending slew of lawsuits and press conferences, and a roster of me-first pickup players and Good Stats/Bad Team guys, none of whom had the chops or the wherewithal to make Cousins better. There's only one way Boogie's situation could have been worse: if the Kings hired a training staff that urged players to eat fried food, smoke cigarettes, quit stretching and switch from coffee to cocaine. And actually, they may have done that and I just missed the story.

I'm still betting on Boogie, but really, I'm betting on history. C-Webb needed Sacramento. Spree and Bernard needed New York. Z-Bo needed the Grizzlies. Sheed needed the Pistons. Rodman needed Jordan and Phil. Iverson needed Larry Brown. Rick Barry needed Al Attles. Derrick Coleman never found what he needed, and that proves my point, too. The belated success of an NBA head case hinges on the city and the situation. And it usually happens later in his career, after he's blown it somewhere else. It's going to happen for Boogie at some point … I just don't know when. But it's happening. Did you see him tear up the Clippers on Wednesday night in what may have been Sacramento's final home game ever? Thirty-six points, 22 rebounds, real passion spilling out of him on every possession. That game was everything I ever wanted from Boogie Cousins. I still believe. I'm keeping my bandwagon seat.

His performance last night was mind blowing

 

[CP1708]

The Raptors turned down James Harden, but took on Rudy Gay?

Huh?

 

[osh kosh bosh]

You want to know something better?

They tried to trade for the 3rd pick to draft Harden in the first place, but they turned up their nosed when OKC asked for a package including Bargnani.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Wow.

 

[xbiker47]

So where does cp3 go after they get eliminated?

NY

 

[ripc]

He answered it in the day time yesterday. I think he did it to avoid the media IF the Jazz won and they lost. Cause that's ALLLLLLLLL he woulda got asked this summer.

Kupchak's word doesn't mean **** yo Lakers front office came out and said Mike Brown's job was safe two days before they fired him.

 

[mjshoefanatic]

So where does cp3 go after they get eliminated?

NY

 

[hongcouver604]

No it isn't, you don't know what a volume scorer actually is. In those games you highlighted from March 1st until now, 45% of his FG attempts have been threes which he knocked down at 38%, and he got to the line 11 times a game and knocked down 84% of his FTs. This comes out to a 58.5 TS%. That's extremely good and that's considered a little bit subpar by Harden's standards.

FG% is extremely misleading with a guy like Harden.

You prolly don't even watch Rockets games, sounding like one of those statistics nerds that judge a player's performance merely on advanced stats. U failed to mention the 6 TO's a game he has been averaging in the month of March, forcing everything his way. 2-10, 9-21, 7-24, 5-18, 8-25 are not efficient numbers, AT ALL.

Anyways, last nights showing by the Rockets as a team was pathetic. Harden was hogging the ******g ball, dribbling for 22 secs then dishing the ball to either Lin or Parsons with under 3 secs left for a contested 25-footer, this **** happened at least 6 times in the 4th quarter alone. No ball movement at all, that's where the Rockets strive.

McHale is an idiot and an enabler. Iso-ball the entire way, not to mention his rotations are messed. Lin had 5 assists in the first qtr and 7 assists in the first half, yet u bench him for long periods of time in the 3rd and 4th and let Harden run the offense? Then when Bev was playing well in the 4th qtr, he got yanked and put Lin back in, who had been sitting on the bench for TEN plus minutes!? ******ed as hell.

 

[CP1708]

You want to know something better?

They tried to trade for the 3rd pick to draft Harden in the first place, but they turned up their nosed when OKC asked for a package including Bargnani.

Bruh.....

You need like a hug or anything man? That's just freaking brutal.

If you want out of rooting for the Raps, I think it's well within your fandom rights. If you got a #2 in place, I'd say make that switch and be good with it. Might I suggest the squad Orlando is forming? Nice little young team there, bright future, couple players you'd like, early in the process, so none of that frontrun stuff people hate. Gets you out from under Rudy/Bargs, etc. Just a thought man.

 

[JD617]

The Raptors turned down James Harden, but took on Rudy Gay?

Huh?

What's wrong with that? Aren't they both chuckers/ extreme volume scorers?

 

[mister friendly]

But why cant Toronto make the playoffs in the East?

They seem to have decent enough talent....I'll admit I haven't watched them much

 

[Peep Game]

Only thing I like about McHale are his interviews and commentary

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Only thing I like about McHale are his interviews and commentary

I've always said that Mchale and Matt Millen are the same.... great at their TV jobs, but god awful at real jobs 

 

[CP1708]

The Raptors turned down James Harden, but took on Rudy Gay?


Huh?

What's wrong with that? Aren't they both chuckers/ extreme volume scorers?

 

[osh kosh bosh]

Bruh.....

You need like a hug or anything man? That's just freaking brutal.

If you want out of rooting for the Raps, I think it's well within your fandom rights. If you got a #2 in place, I'd say make that switch and be good with it. Might I suggest the squad Orlando is forming? Nice little young team there, bright future, couple players you'd like, early in the process, so none of that frontrun stuff people hate. Gets you out from under Rudy/Bargs, etc. Just a thought man.

I don't even know what to say man, if they pick up Bryan Colangelo's option this summer...it might be over between me and the raptors. Ill just root for whoever drafts Andrew Wiggins.

 

[x Buddha Bless x]

[quote name="Brandon Jennings"]

The two games that we played Miami so far, we matched up well against them. If you ask me, that's who I would want to play first round, Miami.

Just the fact over the years, a lot of the games have gone down to the wire with us and Miami. Right now we haven't really played well against the Knicks. I just feel better if we play Miami first round, just the fact we have good games against them.

I don't know if it's because they're the champs or what, but we always play harder against Miami.
[/QUOTE]
As Cake would say, Brandon Jennings on that water.

I mean first Monta Ellis now him. There's obviously something in that water up in Milwaukee.

 

[osh kosh bosh]

But why cant Toronto make the playoffs in the East?

They seem to have decent enough talent....I'll admit I haven't watched them much

Why would I care about them making the playoffs? Last time I checked confetti doesn't fall out of the sky when you get blown out by Miami in the first round.

 

[JD617]

You prolly don't even watch Rockets games, sounding like one of those statistics nerds that judge a player's performance merely on advanced stats.

I know man, I know. I don't watch any games. This is the default response for simpletons, right up there with telling someone who runs a blog that he still lives in his mother's basement. What else you got? Let me guess, I've never played basketball either. I've never played team sports in general actually. Every night when I go home I open up a few Excel spreadsheets, grab some lotion, and masturbate furiously. At least come up with something creative.

U failed to mention the 6 TO's a game he has been averaging in the month of March, forcing everything his way.

I failed to mention it for two reasons, one because we were specifically talking about scoring and two because he actually averaged 3 TOs a game in March.

2-10, 9-21, 7-24, 5-18, 8-25 are not efficient numbers, AT ALL.

I already explained this multiple times, if you can't grasp it it's not really my problem.

 

[antidope]

I hate the whole "Stats nerd" thing. How can you try and dismiss the stats. Theyre cold hard facts and are on equal footing with the eye test and in some cases more important because the stats are impartial

 

[big j 33]

You can't dismiss advanced stats then turn around and use "regular" stats.

Pointing to only FG% then using the word "efficient" is backwards thinking.

 

[00david00]

I hate the whole "Stats nerd" thing. How can you try and dismiss the stats. Theyre cold hard facts and are on equal footing with the eye test and in some cases more important because the stats are impartial

at the same time they can also be misleading

 

[rrlegend]

im really curious in how far kobe wants the lakers to progress without him. With him calling out mike on twitter abut the foul to give this could be an interesting subplot in the playoffs 

 

[menacin methods]

im really curious in how far kobe wants the lakers to progress without him. With him calling out mike on twitter abut the foul to give this could be an interesting subplot in the playoffs 

Dantoni actually told his players to give a foul, they just forgot to.
I'm more surprised that he didn't have MWP in the game.