in these, the waning days of stern: 2013-2014 NBA regular season thread (part 1)

the wadeless heat just lost to the pistons, that team would suck without its top 3

i think they run like 1000 simulations of the rest of the season or something

― k3vin k., Wednesday, December 4, 2013 2:21 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Really hope Hollinger uses 2K14

i mean 4-15 would be arguable, but 6-15? (who are the 4th and 5th best players on the heat? chalmers and...birdman?)

that lowe column was a nadir for him btw

it's okay, you and matt are still welcome on my side of the 2011 nba draft debate. i've been reserving some seats.

Nic Batum feelin the 2.0 vibes :0

“I remember one guy I tried to guard so much, make him work and he had 30 on me and that was T-Mac. I felt like I did everything I wanted to do on defense and T-Mac scored anyway. Paul George did that tonight. He did a great job. I tried to be all over him, tried to stop him and make him work. He made some tough shots. You have to give him credit. He’s an MVP player.”

Miami's scrub starters would be Haslem (Oden?) / Birdman / Ray Allen / Beas / Cole, which is a shitty starting line-up in 2013 but could still totally pull out some games against bottom-feeding teams.

naw i dont think they could win a game

yeah i'm with joe

Not sure any of those guys could play beyond 20-25 minutes. Maybe Cole.

Who has the best bench in the nba

what would that team's bench even look like xp

Clips or Nugz maybe?

spurs prob

Bah, you could totally get away w/ 1 + 2 options of Beas and Allen if they're volume shooting and both hitting shots. Not really sure how they'd look defensively, but Haslem/Joel have held it together before. They'd also have to get quality minutes from James Jones, Lewis, and Mason Jr., which is less likely.

some teams cheat by not starting their best players hint okc perkins

Clips and Rockets both have cool benches; Nets' bench is probably the best in theory, but obviously not really playing out too well so far.

JET, Kirilenko, Evans, Blatche and I guess Mirza.

Or maybe Nuggs since it seems like their 2nd team kinda pulls out some games for them.

speaking of benches:

Throughout the late 1990s and most of the aughts, the players that started the game averaged around 32 minutes per game. In the last few years though, that has decreased to 30. Two minutes a game might not seem like much, but over the course of a full season that’s 164 fewer minutes per starter.

http://thedissnba.com/2013/12/03/why-starting-a-game-no-longer-matters/

Not a lot else of value in that column but I found the drop in starters' minutes pretty interesting

If we haven't already, we should all congrat Rudy Gay for having his first non-sub-50% fg shooting night

http://i.imgur.com/FNWPWnZ.jpg

yay rudy!

Not a lot else of value in that column but I found the drop in starters' minutes pretty interesting

― I was still sending fractions of bitcoin into sheep (Clay), Wednesday, December 4, 2013 3:31 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah ive heard its cause the flood the strong side defensive style is so tiring

also cuz coaches are prob smarter & maybe warrior mentality is eroding

also if the base of basketball players collectively gets more skilled over time that should mean minutes can be diverted to the bench

meanwhile rudy gay is playing 36mpg

lmao

Trail Blazers @trailblazers
Is it too late to join the Eastern Conference? Asking for a friend.

http://i43.tinypic.com/2gxhgty.png

what was the question

https://twitter.com/radiokeller/status/408339293615038465

^^^ ballet life, don't forget about the little people.

Also just warped my mind trying to imagine Houston being east of the Mississippi.

@trailblazers We asked you to keep that on the down low. That eager to get rid of us already? — Phoenix Suns (@Suns)

@KnicksFanBlog Who says no: Melo for Gallinari, Mozgov, Wilson Chandler, Anthony Randolph, and a draft pick.

lol

i died @ that

melo is gonna opt out of his deal and re-sign with the knicks aka the knicks should try and trade him for this season

wonderful tweets

Knicks fans really do see melo as some sort of god walking here on earth don't they

Just realized that there must've been some point when it stopped being LeBron vs. Melo and started being LeBron vs. Durant, although I guess LeBron has played at such a high level for the past 5-7 years that everyone stopped taking any LeBron vs. _____ debate seriously.

Although to be fair to Melo he did have more 1st place MVP votes last year than Durant :D

it's lebron vs jordan now

in LA it's probably still Kobe vs bron

nah kobe vs jordan #RINGZ

/Mario Chalmers said players 6 through 15 on the Heat’s roster would “definitely” make the playoffs and finish somewhere between the No. 3 and No. 6 seed./

this is 100% true and arguably the greatest indictment yet of the 2013 eastern conference

Lol and you deny being a Heat homer

4-15 wouldnt win a game

Bennett looks a lot thinner and quicker tonight

kind of looks like a whole new player tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_qZvAQfPs

ha why is it so slippery

also who are these people who pick fights with gigantic professional athletes

it's crazy how much bennett shoots, but it's also weird how many plays they run for him. You'd think they'd take some pressure off and let him play off the ball.