NBA Season Thread 2013-2014

Nuri Sahin

Carcharodon wrote: »

Oh really, that would be a super signing and add some quality depth, he got be pushing on but that experience is what they could need come end of season. I've watched many a game where he has single handedly killed the Warriors over the years.
Another name mentioned was Hinrich, he would also be a solid back up for Curry, big fan of him as well.

An experienced backup PG is certainly what is needed. Could very well be the difference come playoff time for the Warriors. Hinrich would be good for his defense alone if that were to happen, he's one streaky shooter though.. at least depending on whether I'm backing for or against the Bulls

Nuri Sahin

Speaking of betting, the Wizards are +10.0 @ 10/11 tonight, and I was expected to take them straight up at Evens. Funny that.

I basically offered -10.0 at 2/1 before someone chickened out

Nuri Sahin

Goldsberry's updated top shooters so far this season - http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/88115/courtvision-the-best-shooters-so-far-2

Dirk's is disgusting.



Couple of things, I suggested this on Twitter a couple of times in the past, but I'd love to see OKC trade for Affalo.

Happy to see Calderon getting some love too. Got slated elsewhere for saying Rubio has little on him after the Raptors more or less discarded him to the Pistons last season :pac:

Nuri Sahin

Main basketball news Stateside today is that Holiday is now out indefinitely, out due to a stress fracture in his right leg

Nuri Sahin

Can't believe I forgot about this, but Woj torn JR Smith a new one in the early hours of this morning!

Knicks bench J.R. Smith, but NBA's clown prince will be back soon enough

Within days of J.R. Smith arriving armed with a historic $3 million contract, Zhejiang of the Chinese Basketball League had come to regret signing the clown prince of basketball. From unreasonable demands on the kind of car needed to curry him around the city, to skipping practices for shopping excursions in neighboring cities, to a relentless pattern of insubordination, Smith's bad act had never been worse.

Perhaps his greatest excess of idiocy had been a weekend of running a room service bill into the proximity of $3,000, a source with direct knowledge told Yahoo Sports. He kept ordering food, stacking piles of trays upon trays – "just to see if they would keep bringing it to the room," the source said.

All uneaten, all on the franchise's tab – all a window into a fool.

Smith would be fined more than $1 million in that lockout season in China, which is some kind of stupid considering he had gone overseas on the desperate premise of a money grab. He has come back to the States, signed two free-agent contracts with the New York Knicks and soon will push $1 million in fines for his NBA career. He's been suspended for a reckless driving death and fights and drugs. He's 28 years old, and he's learned little in his life except how to use basketball to get over on everyone again and again.

This time, it was the act of untying opponents' sneakers that cost him $50,000 and the ire of a Knicks organization that has long enabled – even encouraged – the most mean-spirited and pointless of behavior.

Across 48 hours, the Knicks tried a different approach with Smith. First, they floated the empty threat of trading him. And then coach Mike Woodson benched him on Thursday night in a victory over the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden.


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The Knicks benched Smith for their victory over the Heat. (USA Today)
Smith will be back again, and the Knicks will be at his mercy. After Smith was the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year last season, he found a sparse free-agent market over the summer. And, now, with a three-year, $18 million contract, knee surgery and a suspension to start the season, the Knicks couldn't even start a trade conversation on Smith without attaching a good, young player or a first-round draft pick to him.

This is a different NBA financial climate, where teams are stingier than ever on awarding long-term, guaranteed money to those as combustible and unreliable as Smith. Smith's exodus is a non-starter and the Knicks know it.

If Smith didn't have such an inflated opinion of himself, he'd probably know it, too. Everyone understands how this will go now: Smith will tell everyone that he needs to grow up, that he's let down his coach and teammates and fans. The Knicks will start to play him again, and it's just a matter of time until Smith's self-destructive act will resurface. Once again, he'll be ignorant to the score in the final seconds of a game – like the loss he cost the Knicks in Houston – or he'll get into trouble off the floor. Or probably both.

After his release from prison four years ago, Smith sat inside a New Jersey country club, and told me how the death of his close friend, caused by Smith's recklessness behind the wheel, had changed his life. From the guilt over the death, to a summer in a prison cell, to wanting his young daughter to never have to keep reading about his misdeeds, Smith vowed to be a changed man.

“I think I was a follower to an extent,” Smith told me. “If someone would ask me to do something that was on the borderline, more than likely I’d say, ‘OK, let’s go.’ Now, I think I see the bigger picture finally. …I think I need to mature and understand what I say before I say it, and what I do before I do it."

He can make it sound so sincere, but the con never ends. J.R. Smith was raised in a suburban, middle-class home with two good parents and access to an excellent education. He had a tremendous high school coaching mentor – Dan Hurley at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J. – and he has long been taught the difference of right and wrong. Smith's always loved to play the part of a tough city kid, but truth be told, he's a soft, spoiled, suburban jump-shooter.

And when Smith's benching ends with these Knicks, there will be no epiphanies. No revelations. Everyone knows how this story ends with him, how the money will dry up and how he'll wish he had done everything so differently in his career. It is sad and predictable and on a collision course with cliche.

Someday, Smith will make that call to room service – insisting upon more of everything – and there will be no one to answer. J.R. Smith is 28 years old, and it is too late to threaten and punish a spoiled, suburban kid. No trade, no epiphanies, no changes. The Knicks deserve J.R. Smith, and he'll belong to them until the bitter end.

Dublin Red Devil

Knicks can't really do anything with Smith except do what they did last night. Just leave him on the bench. Give Tim Hardaway more minuets. Leave smith sitting until he learns some respect.

PizzamanIRL

His Twitter bio sums him up

Living My Life...
In My Own Head!

Nuri Sahin

Wade is out for the Heat @ Nets game.

Dublin Red Devil

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Wade is out for the Heat @ Nets game.

Wanted to see "Flash" on the Jersey

Dublin Red Devil

Showtime in Indiana!

Nuri Sahin

Last night..

PizzamanIRL

Who would want someone like him on their team?

He's too concerned about everything else BUT playing winning basketball.

Dublin Red Devil

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

Showtime in Indiana!

Will we hit the overs on the Pacers?

Dublin Red Devil

"Born Ready"

ButtersSuki

Interesting euro-soccer take on NBA logos:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/NBA-To-Football-Redesigned/13314983

PizzamanIRL

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Interesting euro-soccer take on NBA logos:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/NBA-To-Football-Redesigned/13314983

Cavs is the only one I'd go with.

PizzamanIRL

Lets see who can go 1-10 first. Wall or George?

So far, George is leading the way.

Dublin Red Devil

1Q 18 - 18

Nuri Sahin

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Interesting euro-soccer take on NBA logos:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/NBA-To-Football-Redesigned/13314983

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Cavs is the only one I'd go with.

A lot of them remind me of the old Eastern European block clubs logos.

Dublin Red Devil

Big Roy knocks down the 3. beautiful

Dublin Red Devil

2Q IND 45 - 37 WAS

PizzamanIRL

Korver makes it 106 games in a row now making a three.

I'm going to the Hawks v Nets game in London on Wednesday. Watch the streak conveniently end this Sunday

Dublin Red Devil

Have a look over at Heat/Nets with nicknames on the shirts. Big Ticket, The Truth , J. Shuttlesworth etc.

PizzamanIRL

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Lets see who can go 1-10 first. Wall or George?

So far, George is leading the way.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Mr. Paul George with John Wall almost there too with 2-10.

Lucky West is picking up some of the pieces.

I like George btw, not hating on him DRD don't worry. Calm yourself

Nuri Sahin

Both the Nets and the Heat are hitting what seems like 75% of their shots, Nets are playing ridiculously quick and there is more or less zero defence being played so far.

Nuri Sahin

Joe Johnson has 22 1Q points on 9-10 shooting. Wut.

Dublin Red Devil

D West putting up nice numbers. Pacers pulling away. Wizards really no match for us tonight.

PG throws it down. beautiful

PizzamanIRL

Joe Johnson about to drop 88.

Dublin Red Devil

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Mr. Paul George with John Wall almost there too with 2-10.

Lucky West is picking up some of the pieces.

I like George btw, not hating on him DRD don't worry. Calm yourself

Nuri Sahin

Rondo has reportedly targeted January 17 as his return date, Celtics face........ the Lakers.