NBA Off Topic

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NBA Off Topic

That KD/Bron workout is so overblown.

You talking about the coverage of it or the actual workouts itself?

[The 24th Letter]

You talking about the coverage of it or the actual workouts itself?

The coverage.

[nova91]

Re: NBA Off Topic

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Local commercial with MJ, I don't know why, but I laugh every time when I see it.

[nova91]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Iman Shumpert speaking on the buddy buddy relationship Kevin Durant and LeBron James share during the off-season. Apparently he doesn't like Paul Pierce either.

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What's up with him wearing the ACU top with the sleeves torn off?

[Kashanova]

Re: NBA Off Topic

"I never wanted anybody to hate me, you know. I wanted everybody to love me, you know, like me, for sticking around and doing what they wanted me to do. And making everybody else happy. And that was a valuable lesson for me, you know.

Well guess what dwight? Not only Orlando not love you but everyone except people in LA Hate you!

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Curious to get everyone's thoughts on this article about why players should consider a Franchise's spending history in FA:

Spoiler

Two and a half weeks ago, Business Week released a study on the “smartest spenders in the NBA.” Kurt talked about the top and bottom ten here. It’s nothing shocking. The Lakers spend really well! The Wizards and Kings spend really badly! Turns out there’s a high correlation between “being a really good team” and “spending your money well” as well as between “being a really crappy team” and “wasting your money.” These lists are primarily talked about in the discussion realm of “what franchises are awesome/terrible.”
Setting aside how flawed that is (payroll is such a small and contextual factor in how a team should be considered as a business), the whole outlook of just ranking the teams independently or on some merit scale is adorable headlines for thirty seconds, but the bigger point gets missed completely.
Here’s the list in its entirety:




Let’s consider the list primarily not through the lens of judging the franchises. Let’s instead consider the relative value of the franchises on this list and their standing in free agency and as a draw for players. What are the top free agent or traded player destinations and their relative ranks on this list? This is in no particular order and based on my subjective interpretation of events, so this is where arts meets science, or whatever word you want to use for gibberish meets science:

Los Angeles Lakers, Rank: No.1 It’s sunny, you win championships about every four years or so, there are movie stars, etc. Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Metta World Peace, Lamar Odom on the cheap (for his last contract which just expired).

New York Knicks, Rank No.29. Big city, bright lights, television appearances, Fashion Week, Madison Square Garden, pizza. Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Jason Kidd, Marcus Camby.

Miami Heat, Rank No. 3. Beaches! Nightclubs! LeBron! DWade! Chalme…. LeBron!

Boston Celtics No. 2. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Shaquille O’Neal, Rasheed Wallace, Courtney Lee, Brandon Bass, Jason Terry. The history. The legacy. The complicated racial and class lines that divide the city. Oh, and the parks are really nice.

Brooklyn Nets No.28: New building! Flashy! New York! Jay-Z! A weird Russian guy who splurges on everything! Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopez, Reggie Evans.

So overall some really good teams on that list. Also, some downright horrible, awful, God-forsaken teams. The Nets you can excuse, though, because so many of their losses came in the franchise’s attempt to bottom out before Brooklyn. With the move, they’re a whole new team under Prokhorov. It’s like a clean slate. Kind of.

But here’s what I find interesting. Teams like the Magic (No.4) , Spurs (No.5), Hawks (No.8), Nuggets (No.9), Jazz (No.12), Rockets (No.15) and Sixers (No.16) can’t get free agents to pick up the phone for them. The Spurs’ summers are so quiet if you told me the entire franchise goes into cryogenic deep freeze and I’d believe you. The Jazz could hold a contest where the first big-name free agent to show up in their office would win a million dollars just for being there, and they’d still have a million dollars to spend trying to figure out whey no one will come to their offices for a million dollars.

The Rockets gave $60 million dollars to two guys who were NBA invisible two years ago.

But the Knicks? The Knicks are beating players away with a stick trying to sign up. The Nets are suddenly one of the hottest places for agents to try and set their players up. The Dallas Mavericks had to fill out their top-eight roster using the amnesty wire and players whose teams did not pursue them for a re-sign, for Chrissakes. (Dallas came away great, but they whiffed on Deron Williams and did not connect on whatever effort they put into the Nash chase and instead got Chris Kaman. No matter how good Mark Cuban thinks Chris Kaman is, that’s a drop-off).

What I’m getting at is that agents continue to throw their clients into situations where they are not well-suited to win, which is going to hurt their value on the subsequent contract. No, it doesn’t matter for players like Jason Kidd and Marcus Camby, but these patterns are not new. The Clippers have spent $13 million less than the NBA average on payroll, and yet still gave a massive contract to Baron Davis, would have given Elton Brand one, and still managed to be the place Chris Paul decided was cool enough to come to.

I’m not even necessarily blaming the agents, if the client wants to go somewhere, it’s their job to get the deal done. And in cases like Texas and Florida, the tax situations apply. In L.A., the endorsement opportunities and quality of life matter. And it’s not like Chicago would have that hard a time landing free agents if Jerry Reinsdorf decided to release his death grip on his wallet.

But these teams, the Hawks, the Nuggets, the Jazz, the Rockets, they’ve all been smart, quality spenders driven by fiscally responsible yet aggressive management or ownership willing to pay for its talent… but their cities aren’t cool enough. This study is a reflection of a free agency market that talks about how much winning matters, and yet always gravitates towards the cool.

It’s not even about the money! That I could understand. If this were baseball, I’d understand. But in the NBA, the players whose salaries really matter have set rates they can make under the CBA.

There’s only so much money to be passed around, and from there, it’s personal preference. But the preference isn’t towards teams with a proven track record of success, it’s toward what feels cool to them? We focus so much on trying to help the teams to reach the level of their competitors in order to level the playing field.

Maybe instead we should focus on educating the players to make them realize that the beach is still a nice vacation spot, but that nothing does more for your earning potential in sports like winning.

Because from here, it doesn’t look like that matters much at all.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/17/the-inbounds-why-players-and-their-agents-should-consider-a-franchises-spending-history-in-free-agency-decisions/

[Altimus]

Re: NBA Off Topic

One of my favorites:

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[BlueNGold]

Re: NBA Off Topic

One of my favorites:

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Man, I miss Chuck Swirsky calling Raptors games.

[JerzeyReign]

Re: NBA Off Topic

What's up with him wearing the ACU top with the sleeves torn off?

First thing I noticed -- disrespecting the uniform I put on everyday smh...

[The 24th Letter]

Don't want to cause a riot on the boards....

but the Spurs reveal their alternate uniforms today.

[BlueNGold]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Don't want to cause a riot on the boards....

but the Spurs reveal their alternate uniforms today.

Alternate Spurs jerseys?

[Boltman]

Re: NBA Off Topic

The Silver ones?

[Altimus]

Re: NBA Off Topic

This should be interesting... have to be silver.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NBA Off Topic

Speaking of Uniforms...

Spoiler

Told ya'll these would leak out before the 28th...

Courtesy of NetsDaily:

These are Kids' Jerseys but they're not far off from the Adult version. Based on the Deron Williams' figurine that leaked out the white version and the 2K13 snapshot, this looks to be the one or at least very, very close to what they'll look like.

[cam21224]

Speaking of Uniforms...

Spoiler

Told ya'll these would leak out before the 28th...

Courtesy of NetsDaily:

These are Kids' Jerseys but they're not far off from the Adult version. Based on the Deron Williams' figurine that leaked out the white version and the 2K13 snapshot, this looks to be the one or at least very, very close to what they'll look like.

So fresh and so clean, clean!