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

and ha i just unfollowed simmons yesterday for prob the fourth time

if he would just stick to nba/espn gossip

what was he talking about yesterday

ha i think it was the nicknaming that sent me over the edge

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 14h
I think I like Greek Freak more than anyone in the 2014 Draft. I'm not even kidding.

that nickname too is kinda gross imho

idk hes just so lame i hate him

yeah that nickname doesn't really sit well the more i hear it

Yes, come to my side

looooooooool if bynum ends up on the heat

the clippers could actually really use him

in theory at least. he's looked really bad this year. like probably worse than ryan hollins bad

wade out with a hamstring pull for the ecf vs indy, bynum and beas combined average 35-17-5 for the series, heat in five

Struggling to wrap my head around all the possible outcomes to this. Only redeemable thing that could happen to the EC now is a Heat/Pacers ECF with Beas, Oden and Bynum as contributors, would be awesome to see.

if the heat win this year via guys picked off the scrap heap im gonna do a school shooting

Shoot Riley instead; it gets you further.

From a Miami Herald story today:

LeBron James scored a game-high 33 points to go along with eight assists and eight boards. James, though, appeared to sustain a groin injury during the second quarter and will be evaluated before Saturday's tilt. He could sit this one out to rest and avoid further damage.

"Uh, it's not feeling too well right now," James said of the groin. "I don't know what happened in the first half. I played the whole second half and overtime, strained my groin, so I'll see how I feel on our trip to Portland tonight and tomorrow, but it ain't feeling too good right now."

if the heat win this year via guys picked off the scrap heap im gonna do a school shooting

no school shootings.

it is illegal. and very bad.

well thats why i want to

no worries. the pacers have already won this year's title. the rest of the season is just a "bread-and-circus" exercise for fans.

The best case scenario for the Heat would be really cool to see played out. Locking up two dudes -- Oden and Bynum -- to basically chill for the whole season in order to use them against one specific team in the playoffs. Just dust them off in time to be prepped for ECF vs. Pacers, give them an extra few months of mending now. Tough to remember a precedent for that.

It would be hard to find two NBA markets smaller than Portland and Indianapolis. Therefore, we can be reasonably confident these two teams will not meet in the Finals.

why are people (here and elsewhere) associating the heat and bynum? i know the heat have a need for bigs, oden's return is no sure thing, etc. but i haven't seen any reports -- yet, at least -- suggesting the heat have actual interest in bynum.

wait, waht? (xp)

if bron doesn't play against Portland to ugh I will be v disappointed.

also Bynum/Oden twin towers forever

wait, waht?

http://media.campustimes.org/2011/09/Funny-David-Stern-Picture2-300x217.jpg

you've convinced me. that's why i'm expecting a lakers-knicks finals.

wait. waht.

Have been why are people (here and elsewhere) associating the heat and bynum? i know the heat have a need for bigs, oden's return is no sure thing, etc. but i haven't seen any reports -- yet, at least -- suggesting the heat have actual interest in bynum.

― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, December 28, 2013 2:52 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think just 100% speculation off of those brief Simmons tweets. Diction sounds less "I think that" and more "I heard that," fuck me for parsing tweet diction. FWIW he doesn't mention if Heat/Clips have an active interest in him, tho.

expecting a lakers-knicks finals

I think stern would def settle for miami v. l.a. clippers.

can I get my tongue back out of my cheek now?

what a strange strange season we have going on here

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/sheilagreco-100315103217-phpapp01/95/slide-1-728.jpg

During the lockout you would just blame the shortened season for injuries

Used to be a child could kick a ball in the street

Is there any good writing or theorizing on why all the injuries? Is it just that medicine is getting so good and paranoid that now we detect that much more?

feel like its some combo of increased athleticism and increasingly demanding styles of play

this is football obvs but http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/10193209/bill-belichick-new-england-patriots-questions-nfl-offseason-workout-limits id think a good approach would be to maybe cut the number of games in particular eliminate back to backs and lengthen training camp/preseason

it would not just cut down on injuries but also improve the quality of play

feel like its some combo of increased athleticism and increasingly demanding styles of play

― lag∞n, Saturday, December 28, 2013 1:40 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel like this is it. driving hard just to get hacked is now a sound strategy

taking the more practice less competition approach one step further replacing high school/aau and college with a european style academy system, would produce better players

i think maybe the biggest change in style of play has come on defense, all the switching from side to side is v demanding

but theres a lot more movement on offense too, too bad we didnt have those super stat cameras for the last 20 years cause i bet players move like twice as much over the course of a game as they used to

There's probably a way to track total distance moved over a game

Overhead camera facing down like the ones they used to shoot aerial footage

feel like its some combo of increased athleticism and increasingly demanding styles of play

― lag∞n, Saturday, December 28, 2013 1:40 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah this + medical staffs being more aggressive to fix possible problems that could turn into career nagging injuries.

Remember that camera they put in the floor underneath the basket. Wow that was weird

There's probably a way to track total distance moved over a game

― 乒乓, Saturday, December 28, 2013 3:48 PM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well there is now http://stats.nba.com/playerTracking.html

Phoenix training staff knows the secret to good health is a Club Med atmosphere not the effing weight room

http://valleyofthesuns.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/nash_nelson_081016.jpg

http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/h6C5Xe0oIPHUDXptLoSn8g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusnbaexperts/72143941.jpg

happy endings reduce the instance of injury 69%

board descrip

I hadn't considered movement amount, but thinking about it, yeah, there's tons less standing around in basketball these days, particularly amongst the more progressive systems.