2017-18 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD PART 1 ALL OF AMERICAS FAVORITE TEAMS ARE BACK

meanwhile the nfl news is head injuries racism and domestic violence

yeah the nfl is in a bad place.

ive barely watched this year

the NBA is also just a super fun positive vibes league for the most part, whereas the NFL really does feel just gloomy and negative all the time. not to mention that post-retirement NFLers talk about their career like they were in Bastogne in '44 and it was costly but worth it in the end, and how much they miss their dead friends.

lol
nba has the least amount of douchery amongst its fanbase ime

yeah big time. went to the game last night and the vibe was super weird. when the national anthem started i heard so much angsty and angry grumbling "they better be standing, those motherfuckers"

the whole culture of the nfl is so conservative the contrast is really noticeable when u switch from an nfl game to an nba

I give the U Bum tweet credit for at least a 1% viewership boost

Who could have guessed putting melo and Russ together would result in the fewest passes of any team

I think Russ is a genuinely smart player though he's just drunk on his own gifts, it's hard to think pass first when you can just nonchalantly blow past anyone in the league even after like a dozen knee surgeries

bunch of guys growling about toughness then a mixed gender grew being all wow isnt that fantastic

*dont want to stan too hard for a league thats owned by billionaires and embodies the same bad values that plague society as a whole but still the difference is noticeable

xp self

I watched a chunk of their game last night and I genuinely think they should be ok but maybe they don't have the right coach

NBA owners are at least generally smart enough to recognize that their stars star power is one of their biggest moneymakers and part of that star power is now speaking out on issues

yeah maybe I'm just blinded by love but Russ doesn't seem like a dumb player, tho he does take some dumb shots. Melo and PG for sure. Only D Rose surpasses Melo in that category for me as far as recent players go.

it feels like the spurs arent being entirely forthcoming about his injury

― lag∞n, Friday, November 10, 2017 12:52 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah do not like, shades of 09 kg "he'll be back in a few weeks" over and over for months

I think Russ is a genuinely smart player though he's just drunk on his own gifts

― gis for westbrook shark jump (agent hibachi), Friday, November 10, 2017 4:06 PM (seven seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

russ, is not smart at basketball, no, sry, he is wildly unsound in every phase of the game, he gets by on insane athleticism and skill, an approach which has come back to haunt him in the playoffs like every time hes been there, he out of anyone should be an elite defender but instead hes a bad one who compulsively gambles on steals and constantly loses his man off the ball, he takes many blatantly terrible shots every game, he is literally the worst 3pt shooter ever yet he takes 5 a game, he also just spent an entire season stat padding and won the mvp for it, which tbh was pretty awesome in its own way

conversely if someone is all "eh fuck the nba, bunch of lazy show offs" or whatever, I peg them as a racist who got teabagged by someone during a P.E. game.

i mean u cld make the argument that russ is smart but undisciplined, functionally they add up to the same thing, playing basketball much worse than he cld be

lmao xp

i like watching russ like once a month. he's like death metal for me. just not always in the move, you know.

in the *mood

don't disagree w/anything you said. I wouldn't name him for a list of smart nba players. But he knows how to attack defenses, how to respond to the defense's response to his attack, and is adept at finding teammates for easy buckets. D Rose even at his peak struggled with all that.

russ amazing to watch and is one of the best player dont get me wrong and i like watching him he does unbelievable things consistently but his game is pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum of the high basketball iq of say a lebron james

and the thunder are always a lil bit of a drag because of it despite having many cool players over the years

who are top 5 hoops IQ active players? Bron. CP3. ??

are passing and defense best indicators of IQ? shot selection a tier below those two?

xp ya good point re the ability to read defenses being necessary to attack like he does, tho even there he does some weird shit consistently like jumping into defenders and expecting to get the call that never comes, coach nick had a good video where he contrasted russ's jumping into people approach to hardens draw the foul on the ground then jump style which is much more effective

whereas (vintage) D Rose, you throw a solid trap at him 30ft from the hoop and he's totally defeated

who are top 5 hoops IQ active players? Bron. CP3. ??

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, November 10, 2017 4:24 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

harden is a mad basketball genius, like he finds flaws in the system that they have to change the rules over, but then hes super inconsistent too taking bad shots and going zombie on D

i think Dray is a very smart player, almost a criminal mastermind if you will

suspect Kawhi is up there in IQ

steph is def way up there in IQ and he changed the game too, also remade himself from a bad into a solid defender despite not having great athletic skills, i might give him the overall crown

russ is insanely focused on hoops, which is definitely a kind of discipline and it produces a kind of hoops smarts. and as a whole package, he produces at an all-star level. it's a bit harsh to imagine he 'ought to be' much better than he is.

his game is never going to look like chris paul's and it shouldn't. the flaws we see are generated by his whole approach to the game, but his approach has also consistently delivered some astonishing things, so WYSIWYG.

David West is very bright.

al horford seems like a really smart player ive almost never seen him get himself into bad situations

I so dislike Harden that I wouldn't give him any accolades willingly, but can't argue that he does have a sort of genius for exploiting shit.

al horf is def a low key master of the game with an insanely calm head

i think Dray is a very smart player, almost a criminal mastermind if you will

― omar little, Friday, November 10, 2017 4:29 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dray id put more in the harden mad genius category like he reads defenses effortlessly but then also cant figure out how to not bend his knees so much when shooting and loses the finals cause he cant help but attack other players nuts

I had good seats watching Horford play once. Was directing the defense like a middle linebacker, calling out the other team's plays, etc.

long term I think football and hockey are fucked

soccer and basketball are so much more global

football contract structure is non-guaranteed and WAY underpaid, plus with concussion stuff i'd bet we're going to start seeing a huge dropoff in elite athletes going into football (this is probably already happening)

basketball and soccer are super low cost to enter, you need a public park and a ball that costs $15, football and hockey programs are super expensive, my nephews spends shitloads of my bro in law's money on youth hockey, literal thousands a year

soccer and MLS will only grow in US

actually baseball might even have a better long-term outlook than football and hockey just because it has a better worldwide talent pool

(hockey basically has the same probs as football with maybe an even WORSE culture, less popularity and it's already basically only a regional sport to begin with)

dray reads *offenses rather, tho he reads defenses good too xp self

Always hear Marc Gasol mentioned wrt his IQ but man I've prob seen like 40 mins of actual gameplay of his total

coaches always praise Rondo's "knowledge of the game" but uh does he even play anymore haha no seriously i don't know

i literally don't know anyone who wants their kids to play football except for one friend from college whose wife is opposed to football for their son, and he keeps plastering her FB wall with "actually football is very safe and here's why" articles from quacks.

Rondo's on the Pelicans!

according to Reddit Jaylen Brown took calculus

m gasol is def a good one tho id deduct points for not realizing until late in his career (last year) that he shd be scoring more

marc def a top ten smart player

i literally don't know anyone who wants their kids to play football except for one friend from college whose wife is opposed to football for their son, and he keeps plastering her FB wall with "actually football is very safe and here's why" articles from quacks.

― omar little, Friday, November 10, 2017 4:38 PM (forty-three seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is the big one imo parents not letting their kids play, also something im surprised hasnt been happening is high schools getting sued by explayers/families and shutting down their programs

according to Reddit Jaylen Brown took calculus

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, November 10, 2017 4:39 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

kinda a nerd for sure, yet to be seen re basketball smarts, tho i def like his trajectory!

In terms of basketball smarts I might go Kawhi.