2016-17 NBA Season

[B-Rich]

25 minutes ago, ninersdd said:

RIP Craig Sager

 

Nice guy; I had the pleasure to speak with him twice.

 

The first was when I was in graduate school at Georgia Tech, in 1987. I had a couple of friends from New Orleans up visiting,catching Braves baseball and staying at my apartment during their spring break; mine was a different time.  I finished a project at school around 11 PM on a weeknight, and we decided to go out for a beer or 2 to celebrate.  We went to a relatively new sports bar in midtown Atlanta called Jocks and Jill's, which was noted because it had as part owners some Atlanta Hawks players, and though we didn't know it at the time, also Craig Sager.

 

So we walk in; there was hardly anybody at the place; we take a stool at the bar and the bartender comes over, and it's Craig Sager -- tending bar at 11 PM on a weeknight. He comes over and says, "Hi, fellas, I'm Craig (like we didn't already know)--whaddaya have?"  We ordered some beers and he just hung out and talked to us about sports.  Real down-to-earth, nice guy.  The two topics I clearly remember us discussing were baseball expansion (he seemed to think Indianapolis had a great shot to get a team, certainly over New Orleans) and the fact that he had to interview Larry Bowa (who at that time was managing the Padres) the next day, and was dreading it as Bowa was quite full of himself, saying, (and I quote) "Larry Bowa--that guy's got the biggest f***ing head..."

 

The second time was during last year's NBA season.  My firm has really great Pelicans season tickets at  mid-court right behind the scorers tables/press area, and Sager was wandering around there-- I guess it was a TNT game.  I was there with my best buddy Mark, who was also at Jocks and Jill's that night in 1988. After the game, I caught Sager's attention and he came over.  I told him we had met him before, at Jocks and Jill's in 1988-- his reaction was "tending bar at Jocks and Jill's?-- whoa, that's WAY BACK there..." We thanked him for his hospitality back then and wished him all the best.  He said he was sorry he didn't remember that exact night, but it was his pleasure and he enjoyed dealing with people, and he wished us well, too.

 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Assuming he stays healthy, Embiid looks like he could be a generational talent. I'm glad it's coming together for him.

 

Someone who's less-glad, however, is Nerlens Noel, who is now averaging 10 minutes a game.

 

https://streamable.com/b26bf

 

Looks like drafting three centers in successive years really was the stupidest thing. Nice one.

 

 

[dfwabel]

Can't do this Boogie.

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/joyce-terhaar/article121429187.html

 

Quote

At 6 feet, 11 inches, the Sacramento Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins towers over most people, including Sacramento Bee columnist Andy Furillo.

Now add to that picture this: Cousins angrily jabbing a finger into Furillo’s face, shouting in a profane and threatening manner, because of a column The Bee published last weekend. Cousins then refused to talk to any reporters in the post-game interview while Furillo was in the room. That’s a tactic he’s employed before when he’s angry about coverage, and it is behavior aimed at controlling and censoring the media.

Furillo’s column was about an incident at the Avenue club in New York and a subsequent lawsuit that alleges teammate Matt Barnes choked a woman and Cousins “sucker punched” her boyfriend. The couple filed the civil lawsuit in federal court, but neither player has been arrested or charged. At the end of the column Furillo briefly referenced a well-publicized incident with Cousins and his younger brother in a Tampa, Fla., bar in May, which ended with his brother, Jaleel – who also is an athlete and public figure – arrested while friends hustled out Cousins.

That reference apparently set off Cousins. Yet it’s basic journalistic context, relevant and fair in any column about Cousins and bar fights. Furillo ended the column suggesting that Cousins and Barnes find “better places to hang out.”

Monday was the first time Furillo saw Cousins after the column published. The altercation started with a glare from Cousins, and quickly escalated as the player closed in on Furillo, shouting “We’re going to have some real f---ing issues. Don’t ever mention my brother again.” He continued his profane tirade, as teammate Garrett Temple got between the two and kept his arm around Cousins’ middle, and Kings spokesman Chris Clark motioned to Cousins to stop.

 

 

[Rj0498]

Dude's turning into a natural Barry Bonds. makes me wonder if any teams are truly willing to pull the trigger on trading for him

[KittSmith_95]

58 minutes ago, Rj0498 said:

Dude's turning into a natural Barry Bonds. makes me wonder if any teams are truly willing to pull the trigger on trading for him

 

What I worry about is him getting dealt for a low-blow offer (Think Vince Carter), turning it around and seeing Sacramento flounder. They need to get a quality piece back for him. 

[dfwabel]

15 minutes ago, KittSmith_95 said:

 

What I worry about is him getting dealt for a low-blow offer (Think Vince Carter), turning it around and seeing Sacramento flounder. They need to get a quality piece back for him. 

That mess of a squad has both Rudy Gay* and him under contract through next season. With a new building, they're kinda stuck and need star players.

 

*-Rudy has the player option worth $14.2M.

[ninersdd]

Kyrie beats the Warriors again, and Richard Jefferson posterized Klay. Not a bad past couple of days for Cleveland.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Plus Durant fell on his ass at the end of the game. Nice one. 

[dfwabel]

On 12/25/2016 at 4:36 PM, DG_Now said:

Plus Durant fell on his ass at the end of the game. Nice one. 

But since today is the observed holiday, he'll skate from criticism....again.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 hours ago, dfwabel said:

But since today is the observed holiday, he'll skate from criticism....again.

 

The NBA said it was a foul, so he gets it both ways. It was a bad look though. You can miss a shot, sure, but just falling down? 

[dfwabel]

New CBA will allow players to use a "hotline" to complain about officials.

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news/new-cba-labor-deal-2017-collective-bargaining-dress-code-referees/19bvxzui0toqn1cql4qtbq0vvc

 

Quote

Players will be able to critique the work of game referees, as never before. In the past, they were allowed to submit one report annually — but never were allowed to mention the offending refs by name. That was the way Stern wanted it handled, and it wasn’t subject to collective bargaining; the players had to accept the commissioner’s edict, and they never felt like they had any clout in this area. Starting with the new CBA, however, the reports will be submitted with the names of the refs and with greater frequency, coming once a month.

Additionally, the players for the first time will have a hotline to the union to call in to critique the work of refs in their games. They’ll be able to report not just on where they think the official botched a call, but also if they found a ref to be out of line, verbally, with how they handled blow-ups. Basically, they can complain like never before. The hotline is a response to the league allowing the new monthly reviews so that players can report something they thought was handled incorrectly while it’s still fresh in their minds.

 

 

Poor Lauren Holtkamp. The Clippers will have 20 minutes of complaints about her following every game she works next season.

 

 

[Rj0498]

The magic look to trade vucevic and Payton. would that be a good idea?

[dfwabel]

59 minutes ago, Rj0498 said:

The magic look to trade vucevic and Payton. would that be a good idea?

What would they receive in return?

 

That's the only way to judge anything.

 

Would you really trust GM Rob Hennigan with any more draft picks?

 

Plus, Elfred isn't a good shooter overall, and awful from 3PT (29% career).

[PrimalCookie]

1 hour ago, Rj0498 said:

The magic look to trade vucevic and Payton. would that be a good idea?

No. No no no.

 

Vucevic is, IMO, one of the if not the most underrated player in the league (even though Orlando fans* overhype him like crazy). Payton is still terrible shooting, but he is improving basically everywhere else. If we absolutely need to trade someone, deal Biyombo and/or Hezonja for a first and never look back....

...Which means we're going to package Vucevic, Fournier, Gordon, and our first for Rudy Gay and a SAC second, because Rob Hennigan! The first thing the Magic needs to do is fire Hennigan. Immediately. He stuck to our 20-win team through the really difficult years (2012-13, 2013-14), and now he trades away two of the four players that we could hype and people would actually believe us - Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo - for a year of Serge Ibaka and a three-month rental of Brandon Jennings and Ersan ing Ilyasova.

 

*AKA me...

[FinsUp1214]

George Hill recovers from a sprained toe...only to promptly go into concussion protocol after taking an Alex Len elbow to the face. I don't want to even count how many games missed this amounts to for the season now.

 

The basketball Gods sure hate the Jazz, don't they? 

 

 

 

 

[DustDevil61]

1 hour ago, FinsUp1214 said:

George Hill recovers from a sprained toe...only to promptly go into concussion protocol after taking an Alex Len elbow to the face. I don't want to even count how many games missed this amounts to for the season now.

 

The basketball Gods sure hate the Jazz, don't they? 

 

 

Not so much as Alex Len is a dirty player, given that he swung an elbow at Derrick Favors and Raul Neto--and possibly a couple other Jazz players too--and for the time being is my least liked NBA player. How he wasn't ejected is beyond me. Hopefully Hill isn't out for another couple weeks, as it seems to be the Jazz training staff's prerogative to play it safe and keep hurt players out longer than they needs to be (I think he's more than antsy to play).

[FinsUp1214]

10 hours ago, DustDevil61 said:

 

Not so much as Alex Len is a dirty player, given that he swung an elbow at Derrick Favors and Raul Neto--and possibly a couple other Jazz players too--and for the time being is my least liked NBA player. How he wasn't ejected is beyond me. Hopefully Hill isn't out for another couple weeks, as it seems to be the Jazz training staff's prerogative to play it safe and keep hurt players out longer than they needs to be (I think he's more than antsy to play).

 

Sad thing is I'm almost numb to this kinda stuff happening now in the NBA in general and nearly expect drilling elbows and such to go unpenalized (but so much as breathe on James Harden, and....). Still doesn't change the fact that watching Hill go down with so many injuries, this last one at the expense of an unpenalized battering ram to the face, totally sucks. Dude's playing at an All-Star level and looked like the Savior of the Backcourt this year, but he may not even tally 50 games at this point. If that. 

 

I'm still proud as heck of them for hovering at 4th in the West even with this barrage of injuries all across the roster, I just hope they can hang on to the end of the season.

 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Some team should have signed Ian Clarke in the offseason, rather than letting the Warriors pick up resign him for cheap. He's good.

 

If I were the Warriors, I'd trade Clarke and future picks to the Sixers for Noel. Zaza continues to give them nothing and it'd be nice for one of the Hinkie guys to experience success.

[Dabbaby17]

39 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

Some team should have signed Ian Clarke in the offseason, rather than letting the Warriors pick up resign him for cheap. He's good.

 

If I were the Warriors, I'd trade Clarke and future picks to the Sixers for Noel. Zaza continues to give them nothing and it'd be nice for one of the Hinkie guys to experience success.

 

If you ask me, the Warriors lack of a true big man is what is going to cost them in the end.

[dfwabel]

Break up the Hawks.

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/817180132322504704

 

Korver to CLE and Millsap looks to be moved.