2013 NBA

[Paelos]

Exactly. He's not an inside guy. That was my issue. 

[ghost]

I'm really kindof surprised he's bounced around the league so long.  He can't guard a stop sign.  Anybody can put up points in the league it seems, you gotta have someone that can stop the other guy on a regular basis.  All of the big names are good defenders.  Some are better on a consistent basis, but even Carmelo can shut people down when he puts his mind to it.  Scottie and Michael were terrors.  LeBron is great.  Kobe is pretty good too. 

[Threash]

No, i think they just get away with a lot more.  In December Lebron went over three weeks without being called for one single foul, that is not amazing defense and he is not a finesse player, he is just allowed to do whatever the fuck he wants to other players.

[Paelos]

Hawks got destroyed by Cleveland.

What. The. Fuck.

[Cyrrex]

Sounds like the Maloofs have finally figured out that they are too broke/stupid/pimptastic to run an NBA team any more, and are selling to the Hansen/Ballmer group in Seattle. The best thing about this is that it makes NHL in Seattle a real possibility. I can't bring myself to give a shit about the NBA any more.

As a displaced Seattleite, whatever energy I use for rooting for basketball (which isn't much) is still aimed at OKC.  I really like that team.  I don't know how to wrap my head around the possibility of another team filling that spot, least of all the Sacrafuckingmento Kings.

[ghost]

No, i think they just get away with a lot more.  In December Lebron went over three weeks without being called for one single foul, that is not amazing defense and he is not a finesse player, he is just allowed to do whatever the fuck he wants to other players.

This is part truth but mostly bullshit.

[Paelos]

I now know what an abortion looks like in basketball form thanks to the Hawks tonight. It hasn't hit the national media yet, but when it does, the world will see the fail in all it's hideous malformed glory.

[ghost]

Wow.  You weren't fucking around.   

[HaemishM]

Share.

[Trippy]

The Hawks set a record for futility, scoring 58 points total, and only 5 points in the second quarter.

Edit: in

[HaemishM]

 

[ghost]

And here's your culprit:

Josh Smith, locker room cancer. 

[Paelos]

Yeah that was a delightful message on my twitter today. Fucking idiot.

I wouldn't care normally, but I really wanted to win this game for two reasons. First, Joe Johnson is coming back to Atlanta, and I want to see him get owned in his $20M face. Second, the long time radio announcer for the Hawks, Steve Holman, is going to announce his 2000th consecutive game. He's been calling every single Hawks basketball game without fail since March of 1989. The man has the patience of a Saint. Also, he's one of the most funny, honest, say whatever type announcers in the game.

[ghost]

Good god, this year's NBA draft is going to be miserable.  Expect to see a lot of furriners taken out of the blue and left to sit in the Euro league.  This is probably the weakest draft in my lifetime and looks to be even worse than the 2000 and 2001 classes. 

[Malakili]

Good god, this year's NBA draft is going to be miserable.  Expect to see a lot of furriners taken out of the blue and left to sit in the Euro league.  This is probably the weakest draft in my lifetime and looks to be even worse than the 2000 and 2001 classes. 

I don't really follow college basketball, but usually I at least know the first 5 or so names, I have literally not heard of anyone on this board.

[Paelos]

There's a reason. 16 of the top 20 are underclassman players. The one and done thing has made this draft process ridiculous.

Cody Zeller and Nerlens Noel will probably be the most famous guys when this season is over.

[ghost]

That may be part of it, Paelos, but the biggest reason that the draft stinks is that this year's recruiting class for college basketball is awful.  There's no Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant or even a John Wall.  I don't even think Zeller will stick in the league.  He's a stiff.  Noel probably will, but he'll be a defensive role player.

[Paelos]

Zeller won't most likely, you're right about that. Malakili's statement about not knowing anybody is telling though. There are 11 of that 16 I mentioned freshmen there, so unless you followed high school ball, how could we know their names?

[ghost]

I'm sure that the NBA executives know who is going to be great.  Last year you had Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  This year you have Nerlens Noel and Ben McLemore.  That's a huge dropoff.  And while you can blame the one-and-done rule for the lack of a "big name" coming from college, I'm not sure you can blame it for the lack of talent in this draft.  There have been plenty of stinker drafts prior to this one, some of them even in the four years of college days.  I think 2000 was probably the worst draft ever.  Either that or the one that had Doug Collins as the #1 pick.

[Paelos]

Oh for sure, and I think that's going to be the case in both the NBA and the NFL drafts this year. Both are going to be extremely underwhelming.

[ghost]

I haven't looked at the NFL draft lists too much.  I know that the skill position players are weak, but I never really know what to think about linemen.  Picking out the really great ones is above my level of expertise. 

[Paelos]

Looks like Rondo blew out his knee and is done for the year. Doc says that he's not willing to write the Obituary for this team.

I am. They were under .500 with the best assists guy in the league. Without him? They are a bunch of old ass guys whose best scorer is a 35 year old forward who shoots 41% from the floor.

[DevilsAdvocate25]

Looks like Rondo blew out his knee and is done for the year. Doc says that he's not willing to write the Obituary for this team.

I am. They were under .500 with the best assists guy in the league. Without him? They are a bunch of old ass guys whose best scorer is a 35 year old forward who shoots 41% from the floor.

This guy disagrees.

Specifically, "Boston’s third most used lineup this season is the group of Lee/Terry/Green/Sullinger/Garnett, and they’ve absolutely killed it in 95 minutes together. That unit has posted an offensive rating of 115.8 and a defensive rating of 90.9 for a net rating of +24.8. To put that in better context, no lineup in the NBA that has played at least 95 minutes has a better plus/minus per 48 minutes than that group."

So, he is essentially saying that the best lineup the Celtics have will have a chance to show if they can carry the team to victory.

I'm not a Celtics fan, but they did just beat the Heat. We'll have to see how the rest of the season plays out.

It sucks that Rondo got injured though. This article points out that it will probably be only until the start of next season though.

[ghost]

Rondo is probably the 4th or 5th best player in the league.  You can't lose that and survive, particularly when you have the all geriatric squad otherwise. 

[Paelos]

That guy is grasping at straws with those numbers. When Rondo was out on the road, Boston got smoked in 3 games against the Bucks, Warriors, and Nets.

Yes, they can win at home without Rondo. They don't have a prayer of winning on the road without a real PG. Also that lineup he references has played together for 95 minutes, and we don't know against whom, or when it was in the game. It's easy to put up massive numbers when you're in mop up duty against Cleveland at home.

[Ingmar]

Yeah there's not enough to even base a guess on there. 95 minutes, spread across how many games, and how much of the time was spent facing the back end of other teams benches?

[ghost]

Rondo has arguably been as complete a player as Lebron over the past few years.  You don't lose a player of his caliber and make it work. 

[trias_e]

Rondo has arguably been as complete a player as Lebron over the past few years.  You don't lose a player of his caliber and make it work.  

Just no.  Not even close.  Yes, he's capable of getting triple doubles.  That doesn't mean he's a top 10 player in the league, because he absolutely isn't.  He can't shoot, and Boston has been constantly worse offensively with him on the floor over the past few years.

That said, Boston is in deep trouble.  They've been in deep trouble this season anyways.  Now they are clearly in worse shape.

[ghost]

He's absolutely a top ten player.  It's not all about scoring.  When is the last time a PG was as versatile as he is, and he's a defensive nightmare. 

[trias_e]

You can't be a top 10 player in the NBA if you struggle so badly in certain areas.  inhttp://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/rondora01.html#advanced::none

Look at the last 3 years.  PER of 18 (above average but definitely not great), TS% around or below 50% (quite bad), poor offensive rating and win shares.  KG and Paul Pierce had both been more important for the Celtics than Rondo until this year.  Unfortunately, father time has finally caught up with them, which is why the Celtics have sucked this year.  If Rondo was really a top 10 player the Celtics wouldn't be this bad with the drop off of KG and Pierce.

[ghost]

[ur=http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8423104/2012-nba-player-rankings-11-15l]ESPN has him at number 12[/url] for 2012.  I think he's better this year than several of those ranked ahead of him, including Howard and Nowitzki. 

[trias_e]

ESPN has him at number 12 for 2012.  I think he's better this year than several of those ranked ahead of him, including Howard and Nowitzki.  

Fair enough, but some others have probably jumped him.  I'd say that Irving, Duncan, Carmelo, and Parker all were having better years than Rondo before his injury.  Even Steph Curry has a good argument for being above Rondo.

Rondo is clearly a great player, but if he's the best player on your team you are going to see what you were seeing before his injury with the Celtics.

As a random aside, my team just lost by 45 at home to the Rockets.  Stupid Jazz.  Terrible coach, bad rotations, with all our most promising players on the bench and an incredibly boring starting line up that gets all the minutes for no deserved reason.

[ghost]

Duncan is having a resurgence, sure.  I think that Rondo's defense gets overlooked, as does his rebounding.  He doesn't score a lot, but he doesn't have to to control the game.  Curry, Parker and Carmelo aren't exactly defensive wonders.  The NBA is less about points scored these days and more about defense and teamwork, both of which Rondo excels at.  I'd love to see him on a real team.  The Heat should trade Bosh for him.  That would be a great move. 

[Ingmar]

That would be a move that the Celtics would laugh out of the room, too. While we're at it I'd like to trade Klay Thompson for Chris Paul.  

EDIT: Or maybe not. 

[ghost]

I wouldn't trade for Chris Paul right now. 

And clearly the C's wouldn't do a straight up trade.  It would have to involve picks, other players, and probably other teams to make it work.