Around the League: Week 13 1/19-1/25

[Sunsfan4life]

BTW....Celtics had no timeouts. All Portland had to do was to tie him up. Sullinger just heaved it out of a pile with a Blazer fighting for the ball with him. unbelievable.

[Superbone]

Oh boy....and the Blazers just lost in one of the most excruciating ways possible. Jared Sullinger dove on a loose ball in the paint with 4seconds left threw it from his but to the corner to a wide open Evan Turner who buried a 3. Celtics win 90-89. This is why I love League pass.

Good for us I guess...But just an awful 24hours for Blazer fans.

Wowzers! Thanks for the update. Gotta watch highlights tonight.

[sunset rubdown]

[youtube][/youtube]

Bron got schooled.

[Mori Chu]

Man did any of you guys see that epic beatdown of the Nets by the Clips last night? At one point they were up something like 50-95. Ended up winning by around 40 points. Just an absolute demolition.

[Split T]

Bill Simmons is putting out his trade value column
http://grantland.com/features/2015-nba- ... ue-part-1/

[Split T]

Relevant Suns items

57. Draymond Green
56. Goran Dragic
Draymond is Golden State’s best defender, feistiest player and locker-room alpha dog, as well as one of the few stretch 4s who defends everyone from Jimmy Butler to Blake Griffin.8 Even if Mark Jackson was trying to start trouble for longtime nemesis Joe Lacob by dramatically calling Green a “max guy” on TV, he wasn’t wrong — Green is definitely a market max guy.9 Same for Dragic, the ideal slash-and-kick guard for the pace-and-space era, as well as the logical choice to carry Ginobili’s legacy for all “twisting in-traffic lefty drives that always seem like travels even though they aren’t” plays.

By the way, with Sasha Vujacic and Sasha Vujacic’s hair now stuck playing in Turkey, I’d like to pour a 40 out for one of my favorite NBA feuds ever: Dragic vs. Vujacic, or, as Trey Kerby dubbed it, “The Great Slovenian Feud.” We never knew why they hated each other, just that they did. Of all the storied NBA Mystery Feuds — Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone, Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, Doc Rivers and Bill Kennedy, Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, Charles Oakley and Ty Hill, even Ha Seung-jin and Nedzad Sinanovic (my personal favorite) — Dragic-Vucevic stood out because nobody knew WHY they hated each other, just that there was a 98.7 percent chance some smoking-hot Slovenian girl was involved.10 Anyway, R.I.P. And congratulations to my new favorite NBA Mystery Feud: Blake Griffin vs. Every Non-Clipper.

53. Eric Bledsoe
Needs to play 2,500 minutes in ONE season before he cracks the top 50. (Since 48 guys did it last season, we’re not asking for much here.) The good news: Bledsoe ranks third behind Westbrook and Wall in 2015’s Freakocious Guard rankings.

Quick story: A couple of weeks ago, Westbrook got a big steal in the final minute of a Wiz game, flew to the basket for the game-clinching layup and got chased down by Wall — who was running a 3.2 40-yard dash at the time — for what might have been the most exciting moment in Freakocious Guard history. I actually jumped up like there was an earthquake or something. It ended up being a draw — Wall blocked the shot but fouled Westbrook, sent him sprawling and briefly caused Earth to start rotating backward. You could have easily inserted Bledsoe into either of those spots and it would have been 98 percent as exciting. They should just turn All-Star Saturday into an indoor decathlon featuring those three guys, Anthony Davis and the Greek Freak.

51. Victor Oladipo
50. Alex Len
Two of my favorite Class of ’13 guys. We knew Oladipo would be a tenacious defender, but he’s a better scorer/shooter than anyone expected (40 percent 3FG right now). And the extra-long, extra-lanky, sneaky-chippy and shockingly agile Len looms as an unexpected X factor if Phoenix hangs on to its playoff spot. We forgive him for being the first person to make the words “former Ukrainian gymnast” NOT seem sexy in any way.

Meanwhile, did you notice how many 2013 draft guys made this column already? (With more on the way!) Pop those champagne bottles, everyone from the 2000 draft! You’re still the worst NBA draft of this century! Congratulations to Marcus Fizer, DerMarr Johnson, Chris Mihm, Stromile Swift, Jerome Moiso, Don Shula, Mercury Morris and all the other 2000 immortals.


40. Markieff Morris
Now here’s a legitimately underrated basketball player! Love his toughness, love his crunch-time chops, love his stretch 4 game, love the whole “defenses keep getting confused by two Morrises” chicanery, love his dirt-cheap extension that kicks in next season (four years, $32 million). The Suns are my favorite 2015 League Pass team for obvious reasons (their breakneck style and their knack for playing ridiculously entertaining games), but it’s their menacing collective edge that I really love. These guys do everything short of grabbing the half-court microphone and cutting a WWE-style, “We’re not afraid of you, and we WILL fight you” promo.

You could imagine old-school badasses like Ricky Sobers and Jeff Ruland snarling next to the Morris Twins and The Completely Insane P.J. Tucker. It’s hilarious. I love the Suns. If you put all 30 NBA teams in the same nightclub, the Suns would be the ones that kept getting kicked out for reasons like “We didn’t like the way Blake Griffin was looking at us” and “Who does Draymond Green think he is????” We can’t have the playoffs without Phoenix. We just can’t. Change the rules right now so they get in.

[Superbone]

The Suns are my favorite 2015 League Pass team for obvious reasons (their breakneck style and their knack for playing ridiculously entertaining games), but it’s their menacing collective edge that I really love. These guys do everything short of grabbing the half-court microphone and cutting a WWE-style, “We’re not afraid of you, and we WILL fight you” promo.

You could imagine old-school badasses like Ricky Sobers and Jeff Ruland snarling next to the Morris Twins and The Completely Insane P.J. Tucker. It’s hilarious. I love the Suns. If you put all 30 NBA teams in the same nightclub, the Suns would be the ones that kept getting kicked out for reasons like “We didn’t like the way Blake Griffin was looking at us” and “Who does Draymond Green think he is????” We can’t have the playoffs without Phoenix. We just can’t. Change the rules right now so they get in.

Boy have things changed from a year and a half ago. Remember when Simmons had us near the bottom of league pass teams to watch to start last season?

Thanks for posting those, Split!

[Sunsfan4life]

I just posted this in another thread.....sorry.

[Sunsfan4life]

Boy have things changed from a year and a half ago. Remember when Simmons had us near the bottom of league pass teams to watch to start last season?

Thanks for posting those, Split!

But remember we should fire Ryan Mcdonaugh according to some posters on this board. lol.

[OE32]

Bet Gobert's in Simmons's next batch. It hurts! Glad he's ahead of Adams, though. Greak Freak should be in the next batch as well. Can't imagine any other Class of '13 entries.

[carey]

Part 2 of the trade column isn't hitting till after the Super Bowl? Weird. That's like 10 days out.

[INFORMER]

This from Simmons's article:

LeBron’s inability to conceal his disgust for Love’s game at times

You made that bed LeBron, no lie in it, you freaking idiot. Thank goodness Andrew Wiggins isn't around to hold the Cavs back from contending.

[INFORMER]

How scary is this:

Mirza Teletovic was taken to a local Los Angeles hospital after experiencing shortness of breath during last night's game versus the Los Angeles Clippers.

Following a series of tests including a CT scan, Teletovic was diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary embolus (multiple blood clots in the lungs). He will remain hospitalized in Los Angeles to undergo further diagnostic testing and to begin treatment, which includes blood thinners being administered. Due to the nature of blood thinners, Teletovic will be unable to play for the remainder of the season.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23 ... s-In-Lungs

[carey]

Huge bummer but I'm glad he's alright.

[INFORMER]

Also from Simmons's article:

Meanwhile, did you notice how many 2013 draft guys made this column already? (With more on the way!) Pop those champagne bottles, everyone from the 2000 draft! You’re still the worst NBA draft of this century!

But, but, such esteemed commentators said it was such a horrible draft. Oh it was so awful!!!!



Let us proceed...

[LazarusLong]

"You could imagine old-school badasses like Ricky Sobers and Jeff Ruland snarling next to the Morris Twins and The Completely Insane P.J. Tucker. It’s hilarious. I love the Suns. If you put all 30 NBA teams in the same nightclub, the Suns would be the ones that kept getting kicked out for reasons like “We didn’t like the way Blake Griffin was looking at us” and “Who does Draymond Green think he is????” "

Crap. Just because Markieff gets a lot of Ts for barking at refs and Marcus goes on a tirade
doesn't mean they are tough. Give me a break.

Ruland was a thug and cheap-shot artist. Sobers, though, was a legitimate bad-ass. Still, the Morris twins aren't in either guys' league.

Tucker, maybe. That's one guy who looks like he wouldn't mind an occasional rumble.

[INFORMER]

Crap. Just because Markieff gets a lot of Ts for barking at refs and Marcus goes on a tirade
doesn't mean they are tough.

One could argue it even suggests the contrary.

[INFORMER]

Another gem from Simmons:

The NBA’s best point guards in some order: Curry, CP3, Wall, Parker, Lowry, Westbrook, Conley, Lillard … and if I wanted to win basketball games in 2015, I’d take Teague over EVERYONE else.

I guess I shouldn't be too condemnatory; from this quote it appears he's a fellow fan of the hyperbole.

[TOO]

I'm a Teague guy, but thats silly. I'd take him over maybe 3 guys on that list.

[carey]

Another gem from Simmons:

The NBA’s best point guards in some order: Curry, CP3, Wall, Parker, Lowry, Westbrook, Conley, Lillard … and if I wanted to win basketball games in 2015, I’d take Teague over EVERYONE else.

I guess I shouldn't be too condemnatory; from this quote it appears he's a fellow fan of the hyperbole.

To me that means Teague over everyone "else" meaning everyone else not on that list. Which is a weird way of saying he's in the upper tier of PGs now. But maybe not.