General NBA Discussion

[jstep13]

I haven't seen anyone anywhere say one negative thing about this Spurs team. Between their current style of play and defeating the evil empire, it looks like this Spurs franchise is finally starting to get its due credit.

 

[jstep13]

Thought this was neat...comparison between goat and everyone else

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Great poster but if they add Russell it changes things.

 

[jstep13]

lol that's what I said on another site..would've needed dual monitors to fit Russell's accolades

 

[Lawrence]

I can see people not liking the Spurs when we had Bowen on the team, but speaking for as much as unbiased view as I can I don't see how anyone can not like this team, all so unselfish, sharing the ball, no egos, all seem like nice guys.

I haven't seen anyone anywhere say one negative thing about this Spurs team. Between their current style of play and defeating the evil empire, it looks like this Spurs franchise is finally starting to get its due credit.

Maybe it's because with Kobe out, I paid more attention to other teams & players, but I found myself liking the Spurs this year. They do seem like a group of cool guys. & they dominated the Heat. LeBron could only do so much by himself. It really could have been a sweep.

Enjoy the win guys.

 

[Deeznutz6]

I can see people not liking the Spurs when we had Bowen on the team, but speaking for as much as unbiased view as I can I don't see how anyone can not like this team, all so unselfish, sharing the ball, no egos, all seem like nice guys.

Even I will admit the Spurs played some exciting ball this year and deserve to be champs, enjoy the win. As a sports fan, it's great feeling when your team wind it all

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

 

[azurepred]

while on offense.

the only time he played good D was when he played against Lebron. Look at Boozer, Thib couldn't get him to play defense. Can Chi even offer Melo max money and still have room to put a good bench together? I don't see Melo taking anything less than max money. He will NOT go to Miami.

I can see people not liking the Spurs when we had Bowen on the team, but speaking for as much as unbiased view as I can I don't see how anyone can not like this team, all so unselfish, sharing the ball, no egos, all seem like nice guys.

once one dislikes a team, I don't see how it can just be turned off, doesn't really matter if they are a "good" bunch of guys. If these guys were on the Lakers, you think all of a sudden everyone in Northern Cali would like them? lol. The dislike meter may go down a little, but it could never turn off for me.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

I can see people not liking the Spurs when we had Bowen on the team, but speaking for as much as unbiased view as I can I don't see how anyone can not like this team, all so unselfish, sharing the ball, no egos, all seem like nice guys.

What do you mean that you can't see how anyone would not like them? I'm a Lakers fan, I do not like my enemy. Plain and simple. Doesn't mean there isn't respect, I just can't like them.

 

[schea25]

This off-season should be real interesting.

I'm personally looking forward to whatever additions Jordan will add to the Hornets. He promised another big free agent, and they have a desirable pick in the lottery (via Detroit).

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

I really think it's the highest compliment you can give the Spurs, that even with 3 HOF players, they won with pure team basketball. You can see the sports media eating it up and taking this angle heavily, probably just how Adam Silver wants it.

On the flip side, it's sort of sad that it's also an indictment on the rest of the NBA in general. Just the raw number of players who either don't care or gave up on team play simply because it's not the most profitable thing to do or it's a consolation for a system designed to make sure only a few teams can really compete. I mean the Spurs are a great organization, but the margin for error in building them was razor thin. Who knows what would have happened if they signed Jason Kidd as a free agent back in the day. Or if they didn't make that Leonard/George Hill trade. Or if Boris Diaw didn't decide to just get fat on his last team until they bought him out ( Grantland has an interesting article on Diaw, maybe the most apologetic sports writing I've seen on a player who just decided to get fat and not care)

Look at Kevin Love. Figures since his team has no chance to ever contend, shifts into stat padding type play, which isn't really solid team basketball. Will reap stat padding rebounds over effective transition defense. And why not he probably thinks, the more his stats rise, the better he gets paid, the more endorsements he gets, even if he's not on a contender.

The Spurs are what's right about team ball, but also highlight what's wrong with the rest of the league. I mean shouldn't buying in, sacrificing and focusing on wins over individual stats, shouldn't that be the norm, not the exception? If the league operated correctly, it wouldn't be "special", it would be the minimum requirement of what it takes to play in the league.

I think the most brutal indictment is that most of the Spurs are either foreign players or were born and trained overseas, save a few select players. What is that really saying about American NBA prospects and players raised and trained in this western culture? On the Heat side of it, I'm not sure how I'd feel if I was James or Bosh. Despite the criticism he gets, Bosh has really changed up his game for the betterment of that Heat team. He has no business playing center, but it's what the team needs. And James, the guy has been going full bore for nearly four years now, in deep playoff runs, not sure how much more you can ask of the guy who is their top defender, forced to bang it out as a PF at times, and is their primary ball handler and distributor. I'm not sure how I'd feel if I was either of those guys having to watch Wade desperately launch three point shots that had no hope of going in because he never put in the work or time to develop his long range shooting. Those guys took a heavy brunt so Wade could be more fresh for the playoffs and he couldn't learn to shoot a high percentage three ball in their four years together?

The best part of this all is I think more team will be encouraged to play true team ball. At some point, it's not just about sacrificing salary, but it's about wanting to win more than anything else. Maybe it will trickle down to youth basketball, where it will be more in vogue to set a pick instead of ball hoggery because they want to be the next Iverson or Bryant going one on four to take a low percentage shot jack in the name of hero ball.

Such a nice solid first year for Adam Silver as Commish, it's not perfect, but the NBA feels a lot less like American Idol ( i.e. shoving the best pre packaged marketable story down in our throats instead of just letting the players play) than it did under Stern.

I think it's wishful thinking to think that the league changes because the Spurs won this year, they won 7 years ago with the same system and nothing happened. Of course all the talk right now is pairing up Anthony with another superstar to win a championship, so honestly I see more of them same. There's money to be made with faces, not team ball unfortunately.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

True but of course there is already talk of how all the new CBA is already going to become null in void when the new talks happen as the owners can no longer claim they are losing money - double edge sword of teams selling for billions. It's definitely going to be interesting to see where the league goes in the next few years.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Are we all going to be blessed with a 'The Decision' sequel soon?

 

[azurepred]

Pat Riley said it best, they need to retool, not rebuild. I don't know if it's possible, but I wonder if players can opt out and resign for less? Bosh and wade should defn do that. They defn need a new pg, a solid back up for Lebron and still need a little size. Guys like Deng, Avery Bradley, Ariza, Jordan Hill, Humphries, Livingston are just a few guys worth looking into to "retool". Isiah Thomas would be a great pick up for them, but I would rather him stay in sac. There are actually a lot of really good free agents that can help title contending teams.

 

[azurepred]

I don't think Riley was implying anything and people need to stop talking about Anthony going to Miami. It wont happen and I don't even want to see it happen. All they need is role players. Lebron plays too many minutes and I don't think it matters how much rest Wade gets during the regular reason, he is kinda like Duncan now, as he can't play big minutes anymore, anything over 30 for him seems to be pushing it. There are a ton of good free agents, I'm sure Riley will figure it out.

 

[jstep13]

lol @ Coach Pop trolling LeBron

 

[jstep13]

Thought this was interesting..NBA logo moving to the back of the jersey starting next season (to make way for ads on jerseys?)

When the Charlotte Hornets unveiled their new uniforms Thursday, many fans noticed a small but telling detail: The NBA's ubiquitous red, white, and blue logo was missing from familiar position on the upper-chest area of the new jerseys.

Instead, it appeared on the back, above the player names.

The Hornets won't be alone.

All NBA teams will be wearing the logo on the back for the 2014-15 season, the league confirmed to ESPN.com. A league official called it a "stylistic move" but declined to comment further.

Eighteen of the NBA's 30 teams have a team logo in the rear-neckline spot. The league official confirmed that those logos all will be replaced by the repositioned league logo.

The move is sure to fuel speculation that the NBA is preparing to move ahead with its long-planned program of jersey advertising. Removing the league logo from the front of the jersey will clear more space for an ad patch and remove what would otherwise be a competing visual icon.

Annual revenue from jersey ads has been estimated to be in the $100 million range.

The NBA logo debuted in 1969 and was the first of the "Big Four" pro league logos to appear on game jerseys, although the other leagues eventually followed.

The NFL and NHL logos appear at the base of their respective sports' jersey collars, and the MLB logo appears on the rear neckline -- the same spot the NBA mark will occupy.

https://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11109976/nba-move-league-logo-back-jerseys

 

[The Josh]

That's lame.

 

[mikedanger]

You had better get used to it...once other sports see how much money it's going to generate they are all going to hop on board.

 

[schea25]

The new Charlotte Hornet jerseys are nice!

There's a few minor complaints, but overall I think these are real nice. Excited to see the court unveiling next week.