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

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

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

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Monday, December 16, 2013 4:33 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

his game is totally how a 3 plays tho

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Monday, December 16, 2013 4:33 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if you can't guard the position you play on offense it's a classic symptom of being a tweener.

well i think the idea of the 3/4 tweener is for a guy like bennett who is basically a small post player

jabari is just a 3 with questions about his athleticism

haven't really watched him play but couldn't he just be a smallball 4? that's where the league is headed anyway. i guess that's melo's best position

the league is still a ways away from small ball 4s being a league-wide thing and not an experimental, funky thing imo

how many teams really play small ball 4s consistently

you almost have to discount the heat because lebron is an unprecedented player

well i think the idea of the 3/4 tweener is for a guy like bennett who is basically a small post player

jabari is just a 3 with questions about his athleticism

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Monday, December 16, 2013 4:53 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But Bennett is clearly a power forward, he's just a small one. He played like one (now he plays like an insane person) and is built like one. Yeah his standing reach is just 8'9 but the idea of him being a small forward was and is nuts.

Then you have guys like Beasley where teams are always trying to figure out which spot to play them in. And there's a lot of similarities between Parker and Beasley.

i dunno. jabari's game is pretty different imo. he's not a banger.

maybe you could say he's closer to derrick williams, but the idea that derrick williams could be a 4 was ridiculous imo

Beasley was a great rebounder, but he faced up a ton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUCIRp4mw7I