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

it's not like that draft is hanging by a thread, you're like the only guy who is still hooked on the lame 2011 draft thing

lol you and kevin are the only ones that ever bring it up

my first instinct on seeing that list was "i bet if you lowered the ppg to about 13.5 batum would be on this list" and lo and behold.

which reminds me that i brought up parsons and batum as pretty comparable players the other day

i mean that draft is very weak, it's not a controversial opinion

it's the two of you who seem to be consumed by it

here is only one of the most prominent nba writers with a column that talks at length about the stagnating progress of 2011 draft class players

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10070788/the-young-nba-players-looking-make-leap-greatness

i think the thing is the top 15 of that draft just outright sucks outside of kyrie, klay, kemba, and kawhi (weird!). there's some interesting role-players after that.

Eric Bledsoe: 19.2ppg, 6.3apg 49.3FG%
Goran Dragic: 19.0ppg, 6.2apg, 49.4FG%

― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, December 15, 2013 3:52 PM (3 hours ago)

yeah those two are one of the best parts of this season

i'm not as high on that class as matt, it's clearly a weak draft

maybe not as historically bad as jordan says it is, the 2013 one looks like it'll probably be worse, but it'll probably produce a below-average number of good players

here is only one of the most prominent nba writers with a column that talks at length about the stagnating progress of 2011 draft class players

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10070788/the-young-nba-players-looking-make-leap-greatness

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Sunday, December 15, 2013 11:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you know this is an article about players from multiple drafts that are struggling right

nice factual error in the intro when he writes that they're all from the 2010 and 2011 drafts, great job Grantland

the morris twins have exactly the same tattoos on the same parts of their body

I kind of love those two.

curry just had a hilariously bad missed layup. got away from the defender at the top of the key, gets into the lane for an easy lefty layup, decides to try to bank it all the way off the top of the glass, way too strong

Lillard!

Seriously hope none of these guys get hurt. They've been great to watch all season and I feel if any of the starting 5 go down it falls apart.

Winning shot made by Lillard with 0.1 second on the clock in OT, if the play-by-play on SI.com is correct.

I'm watching on delay and just got to OT so I'll assume lillard just looked particularly handsome and that's what that comment was about. xp whoops

oh dang, dames

lillard is shooting 40% from the field and 42% from 3

yeah, someone with his athleticism shooting that poorly on 2s is pretty weird. he shoots so many 3s though that his TS% is still good

he has his share of wild drives for sure

killer eurostep from dragic on bogut

you could see that bazemore turnover coming from a mile away

good finish in phx

you know this is an article about players from multiple drafts that are struggling right

― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, December 15, 2013 8:11 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

of course i know this, piece is primarily 11 draft class tho

if you include the other mentions at the bottom

he discusses 3 2011 players, one of whom was a non-lottery pick who tore his ACL. And the thesis of the piece isn't "look at these busts" it's "look at these guys who have a ton of potential and just need to take that next step." I sincerely doubt he thinks the 2011 draft is nearly as bad as you do.

guys all the drafts suck except 2014 which is the cool draft

tho chad ford mentioned the other day that ainge was the biggest 2014 sceptic which is kinda freaking me out

I think the 2014 top 3 is overrated. Depth is insane tho.

that's bizarre xp

I've heard a lot of talk that Embiid may end up going number 1.

marcus smart staying one more year could totally flip how we feel about both 2013 & 2014 drafts imo

ya embids stock is v hot rn, top six guys all have v BIG UPSIDE

it's hard for us to know what is media hype and what is true hype inside front offices

i agree that the top 3 hasn't been overtly impressive but there should be a dozen really, really good players

what parkers been killin it

Exum has looked the most impressive to me

parker's prob a top 20 college player of the last decade but i can easily see how he could end up closer to luol deng than kevin durant in the nba

randle beasting too

randle looks wild good

parker's prob a top 20 college player of the last decade but i can easily see how he could end up closer to luol deng than kevin durant in the nba

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Monday, December 16, 2013 4:19 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Deng at least has a natural position. Parker looks like a total tweener, and the question is whether he'll make it work like Melo has.

i dunno he seems like a pretty solid 3 to me

too slow on D

yeah but he's like 6-7 he can't play the 4

yeah that's why he's a tweener! He's a big dude, 240 lb.

i mean if he's slow on D he's just slow on D, doesn't make him a tweener

his game is totally how a 3 plays tho

harden rolled his ankle :-(

rockets had no interest in playing the kings tonight huh