NBA Season Thread

[Epiphanic]

Watching the Jazz/Thunder game on The Score right now. Not sure who they are taking the feed from, I think it is CBS, but every time the announcers refer to either team they are using IS.

ex. The Thunder IS shooting well right now. The Thunder HAS one timeout left.

The Thunder ARE a team. It doesn't matter if their name is plural or not, it should always be the Thunder ARE. Is this not common sense? Or am I just crazy?

Nah...that's just a grammatically smart announcer. The team name is singular; using singular linking verbs makes more sense. I'd be more irritated if they said it the way you think it should be ("the Thunder are").

I get where you're coming from with that, though, and it is all subjective...but I'd just prefer to hear it the grammatically correct way. (This may also be part of the reason so many people are against singular team names...to prevent this kind of mix-up.) Of course, there are exceptions to this, where the plural form of a word reads as singular, such as the Manitoba Moose...but that'd be splitting hairs at this juncture.

I don't know definitively, but I believe the plural of "thunder" is "thunder". It's like "moose" or "deer". To my ears, "Thunder are" sounds more pleasing.

[dfwabel]

Now that the NCAA's are over, it's time for (what used to be, back when the Hawks were routinely awful) my favorite time of the year: College players declaring for the Draft!

A few guys have already done it, but here's the first real big declaration:

Five Kentucky players (including Wall & Cousins) declare for draft.

Sucks for Kentucky, great for the gutter of the NBA.

Do you like to read about who overestimates themselves in a two round draft or just like to see how players are graded?

The NBA really lacks a person like Mel Kiper, Jr. in terms of their potential draftees. That can be due to the need for that person to look at NCAA film, but also HS (if the kid is one and done), plus international stuff. Chris Monter seemed to be that guy, but he has slipped and teams now hire others who may have had game tape on other international players.

Roddy Beaubois was supposedly scouted by just two NBA teams and while OKC drafted him, it apparently was a draft-to-trade with DAL. de Colo was seen as the star on that French team.

[houshmazode]

Good win by the Nuggets tonight to move back into the #2 spot in the west without Kmart and Karl.

These last 4 games are going to be interesting for Phoenix, Denver, Utah and Dallas.

LA will clinch the West's top seed tonight.

[The_Admiral]

Coach of the Year orthodoxy would prescribe that Scott Skiles wins the award this year, having the biggest differential between expectations and results, and for the most part I think he's earned it. He's a hell of a basketball coach, at least until people get tired of his ass and tune him out. Nevertheless, part of me feels we really need to give the damn thing to Jerry Sloan already. He certainly would've won it had the Jazz edged out the Nuggets in 2004. It probably should've been his in 2007 but Sam Mitchell got it (?). I know it's technically just another above-average season for the Jazz, but how many more years have to go by before he gets what'll effectively be his lifetime achievement award? For him to retire without a championship is one thing, but to retire without COTY would be a minor travesty for a Hall of Fame coach.

[TFoA]

I honestly think that if he announces his retirement & the Jazz make the playoffs that year, he'll basically have the CotY won in October. But yeah, if we're going on just this year's results, Skiles should get it. That team was projected to be at the bottom of the East in most polls I read during the preseason, & now they're probably going to get either a 5 or 6 seed. That, plus he finally helped turn the Bucks from a decent collection of players to a pretty good team. Like you said, I hope that either he or Sloan gets it this year.

Now that the NCAA's are over, it's time for (what used to be, back when the Hawks were routinely awful) my favorite time of the year: College players declaring for the Draft!

A few guys have already done it, but here's the first real big declaration:

Five Kentucky players (including Wall & Cousins) declare for draft.

Sucks for Kentucky, great for the gutter of the NBA.

Do you like to read about who overestimates themselves in a two round draft or just like to see how players are graded?

The NBA really lacks a person like Mel Kiper, Jr. in terms of their potential draftees.

They really do. I was looking up the draft since they went to 2 rounds, almost all of the significant contributors have come from the 1st round of the draft. There have been little-to-no diamonds in the rough outside of the 1st. I think the only one I saw was Manu. Figures that the Spurs would be the team that does well in the 2nd round.

In unrelated homer news, the Hawks have 50 wins for the first time since 97-98, I believe. Still don't think that they're gonna get to the ECF, but it's cool to see how this team has progressed from league doormat & "vacation game" to respectable squad.

[gingerbreadmann]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWUqjf0qeg

Sigh.

[Cujo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWUqjf0qeg

Sigh.

Only Rasheed Wallace....

[TrueYankee26]

Big win by the bulls last night

and the Suns won so they take over the 4 seed.