NBA THREAD: Toilet Fleet Jr 2013!!

[TF@work]

Well, the Heat missing out on Gortat and Lowry tells me that a lot of players don't want to go to Miami. Seeing them get donkey punched in the finals probably didn't help either. If these bigger free agents pass on the Heat, and Miami isn't able to beef up in the next couple weeks, all the other free agents will know that James is going to bolt. And then Miami's fucked.

They could still improve their bench with some of the guys out there, but as far as getting a center goes, who's left? Gasol? I figure he'll be in LA, or if money's not the issue, Dallas, OKC or San Antonio. Why would anybody want to go play in the fucking east?

James in Phoenix? If he could put up with living in Florida, he could put up with Arizona.

plus gasol doesn't play defense and their big problem was negative rim protection and an inability to match up against skilled low post players (tim duncan might be the best all time in the post?!??!?)

[TF@work]

also a billion lols at the clips signing farmar to a two-year deal\, and then him straight up saying the lakers weren't willing to commit to him. for two years at a shade over $2 a year--WITH A PLAYER OPTION FOR THAT SECOND YEAR. last year's team was shit but he was far beyond competent when healthy. the lakers are a fucking clown college now and i look forward to them being shit the next five years at least.

[Natas]

(tim duncan might be the best all time in the post?!??!?)

no, bro. Kevin McHale? Olajuwon? get yer head out of your ass

[TF@work]

(tim duncan might be the best all time in the post?!??!?)

no, bro. Kevin McHale? Olajuwon? get yer head out of your ass

even as olajuwon straight up worked him in the 1995 western finals, in career head-to-heads, david robinson kept olajuwon to 44% from the floor, which is 70% lower than his all-time stats. i'll dig later, but i don't know if there's a single post defender that can say he did similarly against duncan in any stretch of his career. this is basically arguing which is better: ninety blowjobs or eight-nine blowjobs and a really good sandwich immediately followed by a very relaxing and unrushed dump in an empty house with the air conditioning on.

[TF@work]

also can we all get on board with the idea that when people talk about their nba mount rushmore, the single most underrated player in that discussion is olajuwon?

[Natas]

I think the real G's know that Olajuwon is on that brodacious mountain of centers, brah. And that Patrick Ewing is on the opposite end with Robinson in the middle. At least that's how I see it.

I love Duncan but still ain't seeing it.

[TF@work]

you don't do a rushmore of a single position, that's for quitters

jordan is always the gimmie
russell is always the second gimmie

and then the wheels fall off the bus because any one inclusion means somebody great gets fucked

i think olajuwon's talent on both ends of the floor, with no real weakness to his game, means he's definitely in the running for a rushmore spot, his relative lack of titles notwithstanding

[Natas]

I'd put Magic up there ahead of Bird. I like Bird more but he had McHale & Parish in the frontcourt with him. Magic had more team success and did it with Kareem, who, while great, was in the 2nd half of his career in the 80's with Magic which is night & day compared to the 80's, which were far more competitive after the merger and that factors in both ways. So Jordan, Magic, Bird, Russell, and I'd have to put Kareem ahead of Hakeem. Jerry West would def be on my alltime-nba second team rushmore which would be slightly smaller in size if adjacent, or behind the other one. Of course the Rushmore park would be in either Kansas or the Philly suburbs since it's clearly the one great basketball town historically. I'd have to put Lebron there also and he might be on the main one depending on how the rest of his career goes. If starting construction today I'd put up those four faces and Duncan, Hakeem or Lebron would go 5th later on.

[Natas]

I feel this is an appropriate time to ask: Have any of you guys read Bill Simmons' Book of Basketball? I had no choice but to start liking him again after reading it. It's so freaking good.

[TF@work]

magic and bird suffer from a similar problem in that neither were all that spectacular on defense; bird has the edge (i think he made second team all defense a few times), but was not the defender that any of the other guys you've mentioned were--and bird was more polished a shooter by a long shot. i don't know, i struggle with bird v. magic all the time. it's kind of cool and good that both guys' careers were halted before they normally would, so it's not like one kept going while the other languished because of their shit knees or t-cell count.

can we discount chamberlain just because he wasn't all that great a defender? it's a weird thing to consider. i'm of the mindset that rushmoring means you were complete, and by that standard, yeah, he doesn't get there. also by that standard, i think magic falls off slightly before bird. how much weight do we put on titles? fuck this game is stupid i hate it whatever.

[Natas]

weight on titles is fine and means magic ahead of bird and kareem ahead of hakeem, and LeBron tbd.

shit, I forgot about Wilt. He did win two titles and woulda been more without the Celtics being what they were. I guess he's the fifth guy for now.

[Natas]

And Wilt was a great defender on the Lakers. Hard for me to say before that but if you average 23 boards a game for your goddamn career and had who knows how many blocks, I think that's more than good enough. But the big thing is: he never wanted to and never did foul out of a game. I love players who can play without fouling but that's too much.

[TF@work]

rebounding isn't defense

[Natas]

but it's related enough to hustle stats that if you are one of the top 5 rebounders of all time, I can live with you not making all 1st or 2nd nba defense more than how ever many times or not at all. defense is effort, but rebounding is also.

[TF@work]

i mean, chamberlain's numbers are sick, yes, there is no disputing that. but if we're factoring in rebounding to defensive impact, then i think you have to consider bird to be even better than he was. as you stated earlier, he played in a frontcourt with mchale and parish--and still managed to average a double-double for his career. and that's on top of him occasionally rising to the level of second-echelon defender at the 3. plus the whole score from any spot on the floor, 50/40/90, etc., etc. did i just talk myself into putting larry bird on my own rushmore? fuck this is the worst puzzle ever. fuck mount rushmore for existing in the first place. fuck heads. fuck presidents. fuck south dakota especially.

[Natas]

I know but I'm talking about Wilt, but not exactly saying rebounds factor in to defensive impact. You bet your ass Bird should be on there.

[Ray]

I take it back, this free agency period has been really boring and stupid so far.

Glad Lowry stayed in Toronto. That's about it...

[Zerohero]

yeah fuck free agency can fuck off... nothing happening..

anyone see Nerlens Noel play in that first summer league game? Looks healthy and ready to play...

[Natas]

he'd better be or he can gtfo! Summer league shmummer league.

[Zerohero]

he'd better be or he can gtfo! Summer league shmummer league.

summer league is great because its two announcers totally ignoring the game and talking hoops for 2 hours.

[Natas]

When I saw some of the best highlights online incl some really good dunks there was no crowd reaction at all. Just NBA personnel & scouts.

[Ray]

When I saw some of the best highlights online incl some really good dunks there was no crowd reaction at all. Just NBA personnel & scouts.

[Natas]

haha yeah that's the one I think. Didn't notice the bench reaction. the first day there were a whole bunch of highlight links, etc on nba reddit (a good place to check out btw)

[Zerohero]

I don't even really get why there's an "orlando" summer league.. there's a full on summer league in Vegas, all the teams are there, including some in orlando, and like 6 teams decide Let's go play in a stinky gym in florida.

[Natas]

why not? You can go to Disney or visit a prostitute and/or casino.