NBA 2019 - Now the Joy in My World is in Zion

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 hours ago, Calibandar said:

What I was saying is that I seriously question whether that Boston offer will actually be on the table give all the signalling and clear intentions by Davis' camp that he simply will not want to stay there. From what we know now, he will not extend and would thus be a rental. In my estimation, this puts Boston out of the camp of suitors for Davis given what we currently know. He seems to specifically not want to go there, which is odd to me because that could be a phenomenal team with him there and a contender for years to come. 

So given that, it comes down to the Lakers again, in the summer. The Knicks can't trade for him, because they have nothing left to trade, they already tried to trade Porzingis and NO didn't want that. So it seems everything signals that he still goes to LA in the summer. Unless I'm missing out on some serious suitors.

I get what you're saying. I just think a lot of the chatter we heard from AD's camp was put out to get him to LA this year. He might be open to more longer term options though once the season is over.

[Calibandar]

If you're Boston you have to do whatever you can to remedy what seem to be clearly negative feelings by Davis towards that franchise.

If you don't feel very comfortable that you've been able to appease all his concerns, then don't trade for him.

New Orleans meanwhile, having fired their GM, it feels to me like they missed an opportunity here and they know it.

Having Davis on that team the rest of the season is going to remain problematic, and the main talking point for the Pelicans this season.

[briantw]

2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

If you're Boston you have to do whatever you can to remedy what seem to be clearly negative feelings by Davis towards that franchise.

If you don't feel very comfortable that you've been able to appease all his concerns, then don't trade for him.

New Orleans meanwhile, having fired their GM, it feels to me like they missed an opportunity here and they know it.

Having Davis on that team the rest of the season is going to remain problematic, and the main talking point for the Pelicans this season.

If Boston trades for him and makes the Finals, hard to see him going elsewhere.  Especially if Golden State no longer has Durant.  He leaves and the season is no longer a formality.

[briantw]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25980368/how-former-ref-tim-donaghy-conspired-fix-nba-games

Interesting article on what we all already knew...that the NBA saying Donaughy never fixed games was a crock of shit.

[Proudfeet]

Quote

 

Instead, he surprised me. "There were lots of whistles in the game, by him, that did not fit the game," he says. "It's called literal interpretation."

In the early 2000s, Rush went on to explain, the NBA undertook a wholesale revision of its refereeing guidelines, changes that would naturally lead to the entire NBA referee corps calling a greater volume of fouls, at least initially. All this occurred while Rush was director of officials, from 1998 to 2003. "And like everything else, when you make changes, initially you'll have an overreaction. Typically. Then people settle in."

But Donaghy didn't settle in. Rush, as director of refs, took notice but didn't think much of it at the time. It was only later, in 2007, after Donaghy had been exposed, that Donaghy's letter-of-the-law foul-calling acquired a darker hue. Watching games for Pedowitz, Rush noticed the same propensity to call "literally interpreted" fouls in situations where they were not warranted -- ones that ran counter to the flow of the game. Only this time, Rush viewed these calls with suspicion. Still, as Rush explained to me over the phone, these were just "trends," not "red flags," and the NBA and the Pedowitz people were interested only in red flags. "They were looking for something real obvious. A play that had to be called one way and that [Donaghy] called the other way. That's what they were looking for. I didn't find it."

 

Crux of it.

There is a lot of rule breaking in contact sports and enforcement is inconsistent. For example, I'm pretty sure shirt pulling is illegal, but it happens all the time. 

[briantw]

2 hours ago, Proudfeet said:

Crux of it.

There is a lot of rule breaking in contact sports and enforcement is inconsistent. For example, I'm pretty sure shirt pulling is illegal, but it happens all the time. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if game fixing still goes on.  It's easy for refs to hide under the guise of incompetence.

It also says everything you need to know about Stern's commissioner reign that he let all of Donaughy's friends keep their jobs instead of cleaning house like they should have after that scandal. 

[Proudfeet]

4 minutes ago, briantw said:

I wouldn't be at all surprised if game fixing still goes on.  It's easy for refs to hide under the guise of incompetence.

It also says everything you need to know about Stern's commissioner reign that he let all of Donaughy's friends keep their jobs instead of cleaning house like they should have after that scandal. 

It's not even incompetence. There are rules that are largely ignored and also a lot of judgement calls. Referees have a lot of leeway without being blatant. From what I gathered in the article, the thing about Donaghy was that the individual calls were mostly correct. Its only when you look at the trend and context that it becomes suspicious.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

It just dawned on me that not only did the Wolves have the pick before Curry went, they also had the pick before Giannis went.

[Relic]

1 hour ago, briantw said:

It also says everything you need to know about Stern's commissioner reign that he let all of Donaughy's friends keep their jobs instead of cleaning house like they should have after that scandal. 

Does it really say everything we need to know? Cuz i see no mention of the League going from nearly broke to the second most profitable league in the States during his term as Commissioner. Why can;t we have these conversations without all the ridiculous hyperbole?

[Proudfeet]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

It just dawned on me that not only did the Wolves have the pick before Curry went, they also had the pick before Giannis went.

Well, you did get KAT afterwards.

Speaking of drafts, is a pick considered a bust if he doesn't pan out and was sold low but becomes an all star on a subsequent team? Read somewhere that Oladipo and Tobias Harris were both drafted by the Magic. And the Lakers got rid of D'Angelo Russell as well. No idea what they got for them though.

[Jaime L]

5 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

It just dawned on me that not only did the Wolves have the pick before Curry went, they also had the pick before Giannis went.

You had the two picks immediately before Curry. Wizards traded that #5 pick that the T'Wolves could've used on Curry for Randy Foye/Mike Miller. I mean how could you not look at that 26 win 2009 Wizards team and not think "win now"? And the Wizards also had the #3 pick (Otto Porter) when Giannis went #15. Our franchises are brothers in misery. 

That said from a pure torture standpoint, nothing will ever match the David Kahn taking 3 PGs in 2009 with none of them being Steph Curry. Think that's even more haunting than the Grizzlies going Hasheem Thabeet over Harden/Curry. 

[Maithanet]

46 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

That said from a pure torture standpoint, nothing will ever match the David Kahn taking 3 PGs in 2009 with none of them being Steph Curry. Think that's even more haunting than the Grizzlies going Hasheem Thabeet over Harden/Curry. 

I dunno.  Perhaps Thabeet getting dominated in college by Dejuan Blair, a 6-7 forward with questionable athleticism, should have been a hint that he isn't worth a top 3 pick. 

[Jaime L]

10 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I dunno.  Perhaps Thabeet getting dominated in college by Dejuan Blair, a 6-7 forward with questionable athleticism, should have been a hint that he isn't worth a top 3 pick. 

Oh everyone except Chris Wallace knew Thabeet sucked. But at least he already had his PG (Conley). (He also already had his center (Gasol), even if he didn't know it yet, but shhh I'm rolling.) 

Kahn needed a PG in a PG dominant draft, took 3 bites at the apple, and couldn't have failed more hilariously. It's not even that Curry was too small...Jonny Flynn was even smaller. Heck he didn't even draft Jrue Holiday among those picks. And yet this is the guy who fleeced Ernie Grunfeld!  

At least the T'Wolves eventually got their all-star PG from that draft. Jeff Teague signed years later. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Reading the above makes me want to vomit. Flynn was out of the league after a few seasons and Rubio never lived up to the hype (basically Luka before Luka). Missing on two top ten picks hurts in and of itself, but taking them before the greatest shooter ever is just sickening. 

Knowing the Wolves though, Curry would have been an injury bust if we took him.

[Slurktan]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Reading the above makes me want to vomit. Flynn was out of the league after a few seasons and Rubio never lived up to the hype (basically Luka before Luka). Missing on two top ten picks hurts in and of itself, but taking them before the greatest shooter ever is just sickening. 

Knowing the Wolves though, Curry would have been an injury bust if we took him.

Rubio being a disappointment is true but he was never as good as Luka.  It was always known he couldn't shoot.  Luka was the Euroleague MV fucking P at 19. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

Rubio being a disappointment is true but he was never as good as Luka.  It was always known he couldn't shoot.  Luka was the Euroleague MV fucking P at 19. 

No, but he was billed in a similar lighting. Also, Luka is only a marginally better shooter, it's just that he's willing to shoot while Rubio gets nervous. 

Also, knowing nothing about European basketball, how does 15/5/5 get you the MVP?

[Ramsay B.]

3 hours ago, Maithanet said:

I dunno.  Perhaps Thabeet getting dominated in college by Dejuan Blair, a 6-7 forward with questionable athleticism, should have been a hint that he isn't worth a top 3 pick. 

Sometimes when Uconn was playing like shit Calhoun would call a timeout, and they’d come out with a play designed for Thabeet in the low post. It would go exactly as you’d imagine. At the time it drove me absolutely insane... but thinking back it was such a genius move. What better motivator did the actually scorers need? 

But yeah, my friends and I still laugh about him going 2nd. Just pure insanity.

 

[BigFatCoward]

Zion injured due to his Nike shoe falling apart, that is going to take some serious spin to put right.

[Relic]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Zion injured due to his Nike shoe falling apart, that is going to take some serious spin to put right.

Honestly, this is a total non-story. The injury in itself is, of course, a story, but the fact that it happened because his shoe split is NOT. Shit happens, and given that 99.999999% of all shoes DON'T split mid-game and blow out knees makes this a silly thing to focus on. 

[BigFatCoward]

Are you suggesting this doesn't look bad for nike, or it shouldn't?