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

btw anyone on this board who thought deron/cp3 was ever a discussion shd have to mail me $5

at the beginning of this season the nets owed d will $81 million

should work out fine

do you guys think d will is gonna turn down his $22 million option in 2016-2017 when he can barely walk

get the money injected into his knees

btw anyone on this board who thought deron/cp3 was ever a discussion shd have to mail me $5

― lag∞n, Tuesday, January 7, 2014 11:19 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it was kiiiiiiiiiiinda close for about half a year that one time but iirc the league was lacking narratives at the time so

will dm u my addr

they should try getting some replacement ankles from a russian prisoner

shd try jetski therapy

Phillip Barnett ‏@imsohideouss 1m
“He turned Kidd’s soda into wine.” RT @ComplexMag: KG on why Nets have given Johnson the nickname "Joe Jesus"

lol o shit

I think Kidd probably did that on his own

Because he's an alcoholic you see

jason kidd *makes drinky drinky motion*

NBA Legion ‏@MySportsLegion -- That was quick, the Bulls have released Andrew Bynum.

bynum is a butterfly; and butterflies are free to fly; fly away, high away, bye bye

Mark Deeks ‏@MarkDeeksNBA 24m
To any Bulls fan thinking "can we sign Mirotic with the cap room MLE?" - that thing is at most two years and $5,586,940. So, no.

JD ‏@thejd44 23m
@MarkDeeksNBA Is signing Mirotic like signing a regular FA? Do same rules/limitations apply, or is it "easier" bc they own his rights?

Mark Deeks ‏@MarkDeeksNBA 21m
@thejd44 So yes, effectively, it's like a FA negotiation. One with only NBA suitor, but a very valid "nah I'll stay here thanks" option.

Mark Deeks ‏@MarkDeeksNBA 4m
Mirotic is the best player on the best team in Europe, earning comparable NBA money. He'll move for the right price, but that isn't it.

Deng is averaging 19.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this year. Clark and Gee were averaging 9.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist combined.

Kevin Love ‏@kevinlove 4m

Unbearable weather outside. BRUTAL!!!I'm staying in with my 80" @VIZIO<https://twitter.com/VIZIO > M-Series Smart TV.

Ha

@WojYahooNBA 59s
The NBA has approved a $5.25M Disabled Player Exception for the Brooklyn Nets, league source tells Yahoo Sports.

Only one?

imho this is ridiculous considering brons far superior D but durant has been beasting for sure and there is an opening as far as the mvp what with im sure everyone being super tired of giving it to bron

Kevin Durant's torrid MVP pace
Numbers bear out OKC's star has been the best player in the league thus far
Updated: January 7, 2014, 10:35 AM ET
By Tom Haberstroh | ESPN Insider

Kevin Durant has taken his game to historic levels during the absence of Russell Westbrook.
LeBron James, you officially have company.

James might be the best basketball player on the planet, but so far this season, someone else has been better by almost any measure.

And his name is Kevin Wayne Durant.

James led the NBA in player efficiency rating for most of the season by a wide margin and generally hasn't been challenged in that metric for years. But Durant, in his age-25 season, has finally closed the gap and eclipsed James' rate after a ridiculous weekend of hooping. Durant torched the Minnesota Timberwolves for 48 points and seven assists in a narrow victory on Saturday and then put up 21 and eight assists in just 27 minutes of action during a blowout win the very next day against the visiting Boston Celtics. Pity the Utah Jazz, who face Durant's wrath Tuesday.

Glance at the PER leaderboard and you'll see that Durant is now king with a 29.1 rating, which currently betters James' rate of 29.0. Remember, PER is a per-minute metric that adjusts for playing time, so the fact that Durant has played an extra game doesn't affect the standings. WARP, the all-in-one metric of my Per Diem colleague Kevin Pelton, also puts Durant in the lead with a 9.0 rating. Win shares, found at Basketball-Reference.com, point to Durant as the season's best as well.

Traditional numbers also gush about Durant's campaign. So far, Durant has been the NBA's scoring leader by far with 29.0 points per game (only Kevin Love is within striking distance, at 26.4), but he's shooting 49.6 percent from the floor, 42 percent from downtown and 88.4 percent from the free throw line. Not only that, Durant continues to expand his game in other areas, pulling down rebounds (12 percent of all available boards) and dishing out assists (assisting an estimated 23.4 percent of his teammates' baskets while on the floor) at career-high rates.

Put it all together and you have the NBA's finest player thus far, even better than James, whose shooting efficiency is still at an all-time rate but the rest of his numbers are down. Looking at the big picture, the Thunder remain the class of a loaded Western Conference with a sparkling 27-7 record and haven't missed a step without Russell Westbrook, who has missed OKC's last six games after getting his right knee scoped Dec. 27. Since the bad news on Westbrook, the Thunder have gone 4-2 with narrow defeats at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Brooklyn Nets.

And here's the thing about the Westbrook injury: The numbers say Durant hasn't missed his co-pilot at all. In fact, Durant's been playing at superhuman levels without his star point guard. In the past six games, Durant is averaging 32.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists on 51.9 percent shooting from the floor and 40.5 percent shooting from downtown. This follows a fascinating trend that has been true all season: Durant has played much better with Westbrook on the bench.

Get this: According to NBA's StatsCube database, Durant has put up a 35.4 PER in the 488 minutes with Westbrook riding pine.

I repeat, 35.4 PER.

The highest PER figure of all-time, by the way, is 31.8, set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63, according to Basketball-Reference.com. Durant has exceeded that and then some with Westbrook sidelined.

In those situations, Durant has become more prolific and more deadly with his shot, posting a LeBron-like 65.1 true shooting percentage (a shooting percentage that incorporates free throw shooting and the added value of 3-pointers) and a 33.7 percent usage rate, which would lead the league. His rebounding numbers jump to 9.4 boards per 36 minutes, which make sense given that Westbrook is an elite rebounder at his position.

So what happens to that number when Westbrook checks into the game? Durant's numbers slide pretty much across the board.

Durant's PER drops to a 25.4 figure, which would rank eighth in the league. His true shooting percentage has drops from 65.1 percent to a less-ridiculous-but-still-really good 61.6 percent. His rebounding numbers fall to just seven boards every 36 minutes and his usage rate drops to 28.3 as he shares the ball with Westbrook, who actually has the highest usage rate in the NBA at 31.9 percent.

But the big thing here is that the Thunder, as a team, have been able to weather the storm without Westbrook. Durant's numbers are way up, but more importantly, the Thunder's offense looks nothing like the overwhelmed squad that the Memphis Grizzlies mauled in the playoffs last season.

In the Western Conference semifinals, the Thunder put up just 95.4 points per 100 possessions in the 4-1 defeat and generally looked overwhelmed by the Griz. Sure, Durant and company got away with simple stuff against the Houston Rockets in the first round, but against an elite defense with the benefit of playoff prep, the Westbrook-less Thunder got smoked.

This season's a different story. The Thunder are scoring 108.1 points per 100 possessions with Durant on the floor and Westbrook off of it, which is actually slightly better than their offensive efficiency with the two playing together (107.0).

Why no dropoff?

For one, Westbrook wasn't sharp immediately upon arrival this season, so even with Westbrook the Thunder weren't exactly running on all cylinders. Secondly, the Thunder have had an entire offseason to adjust to the hypothetical of a world without Westbrook, unlike the postseason run. Preparation is kind of a big deal.

Together, the salaries of Jackson, Lamb and Adams combine for less than what the Timberwolves are paying Martin this season. That's how you build a roster on a tight budget.
Lastly and most importantly, the development from third-year point guard Reggie Jackson, who has been one of the league's most improved players this season, has changed the game. No longer can opposing defenses constantly throw four players onto Durant and expect to live to tell the story. Jackson's outing on Sunday, when he scored a career-high 27 points, wasn't a fluke; Jackson has been brilliant on both ends so far playing off of Durant and vice versa.

Multiple times in Sunday's game, even Avery Bradley looked helpless trying to stay in front of Jackson as the rest of the C's defense kept its eyes on Durant. With three treys on Sunday, Jackson has raised his 3-point conversion rate to a solid 33 percent and has already made more three-balls than he did all of last season in 129 fewer minutes.

Jackson isn't the only member of Durant's supporting cast that has kept defenses more honest. Rookie Steven Adams, who was drafted using Houston's pick in the James Harden deal, has also given Scott Brooks even more reason not to play Kendrick Perkins, though the veteran still inexplicably starts for an elite team. Jeremy Lamb, the Kevin Martin successor, is scoring 17 points per 36 minutes and drilling 40 percent of his 3s.

Together, the salaries of Jackson, Lamb and Adams combine for less than what the Timberwolves are paying Martin this season. That's how you build a roster on a tight budget.

In the end, Durant has taken the lead in the MVP race thanks in no small part to the improvement of his teammates. They allow him to do his MVP-caliber work even without Westbrook. A rising tide raises all ships in basketball as well. Though the Thunder will need Westbrook for the title run, the ever-growing talents of Durant have kept Oklahoma City afloat. If things hold, Durant won't finish second behind James in the MVP vote yet again. For now, Durant has James beaten with better numbers and, with Westbrook out, a better story.

and the emergence of the thunders young players might end up being the decisive story of this season

especially if brooks finds a way to bench perk and fisher

hey, this anthony davis fellow is pretty good

hes so good

oh!, lookit that. he's awesome.

man the pacers only played plumlee 55mins last year, they fucked that one up bad, traded a legit nba center for an aging back up pf and threw in a usefull super athletic wing for laffs

― lag∞n, Monday, January 6, 2014 11:03 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it was a weird situation because he was a really bold gamble as a first round pick and then they give up so soon. Gotta give a freak like that some time.

Scola might get them over the hump in a couple playoff games with some up and unders though, who knows.

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, January 6, 2014 6:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

FWIW Pacers were happy w/ Plumlee's DLeague development. If they'd been making a long-term move, no way they'd have let him leave, esp. since all they were really looking for were rebounds from him. It's just that they desperately needed a clockwork scorer off the bench and that's totally what they're getting. For short term vs long term, it was win/win. Gerald Green was complete trash last season and they really wanted to dump his contract, small as it is.

you can get a bench scorer for a lot less than the price of a young legit center

AND a draft pick lol

Nah, Scola fits the offensive sets really well and has been doing exactly what they're looking for. Bench was such an offensive nightmare last season that fixing it was top priority. That said, if the Pacers knew how much ballin Plumlee would be ready to do this year, they might reconsider. It's just that they're so desperate to beat the Heat right now, and they saw lack of dependable bench scoring as their big weak point.

Oh hey more Giannis diary blogs

http://www.brewhoop.com/2014/1/7/5283406/it-is-amazing-what-i-am-experiencing-gianniss-new-blog-entry

scola may fit really well but that doesnt mean they didnt over pay for him, which they did

also worth noting that the pacers are playing mahinmi ~15 mins a game and he is not very good

i haven't watched much giannis because i've been avoiding the bucks, but people are really getting worked up over the 7-3-2 lines he's been putting up huh?

JR smith just tried to untie monroe's shoes, wtf dude

he has really big hands xp

but seriously he is the youngest player in the nba and he had no high level basketball experience and he looks like a basketball machine and is playing well and seems smart so imho people are right to be amped on him

he blocked aldridges turnaround

Eh, when you consider that they were paying Gerald Green, a total shitshow last year, $3m/yr iirc, then Scola @ $4m/yr is a total bargain.

scolas salary is reasonable, what they gave up in the trade for him was not

i haven't watched much giannis because i've been avoiding the bucks, but people are really getting worked up over the 7-3-2 lines he's been putting up huh?

― k3vin k., Tuesday, January 7, 2014 8:20 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha I totally haven't watched him that critically since he really shouldn't even be playing real minutes right now but Bucks are just throwing him out there and he's not embarrassing himself / showing flashes each game.

they're so desperate to beat the Heat right now, and they saw lack of dependable bench scoring as their big weak point.

i feel like indy's so far out in front of miami now that it will take a major development for the heat to win the east. pains me to say it, happy to be disabused of the notion, but there it is.

It's funny because the Pacers shipped him off for basically the same reason he's been so successful in Phoenix-- dude really just wants to launch threes. Happy that he found the right team for that + insane dunks.

i feel like indy's so far out in front of miami now that it will take a major development for the heat to win the east. pains me to say it, happy to be disabused of the notion, but there it is.

― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, January 7, 2014 8:32 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They're only like a game or two out of top seed as it is; wouldn't be surprised if Heat got it after going for a 15 game win streak just for laffs.a

heat are vulnerable tho fwiw when all 3 big three play theyve been nearly unbeatable indy is looking v good a lot can change before the playoffs my money is on okc

okc looks tough. durant's playing out of his mind, and they always develop young players v well.

heat have lebron iirc

he blocked aldridges turnaround

― lag∞n, Tuesday, January 7, 2014 5:23 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

i think you're thinking of anthony davis? dont think pdx has played the bucks yet this year

heat have lebron iirc

he's so diminished, already mentally halfway out-the-door to cleveland.

you do recall correctly, tho. at the moment, lebron raymone james is a heat.

Enjoyed this

http://deadspin.com/it-just-feels-sick-john-lurie-on-his-life-as-a-new-y-1495513675

heat are vulnerable... indy is looking v good... my money is on okc

Funny how everyone overlooks the spurs so consistently, even though they were about a minute away from taking game 6 and beating the Heat last June and now lead the very tough Western Conference for #1 seed.