Around the League: Week 6 11/30-12/6

[carey]

Week 5 is ovah and we're left wondering the same thing we have the last few weeks. Which happens first a Warriors loss or a Sixers win? Well, the Lakers are in Philadelphia tomorrow. This could be the one! But the Warriors are in Utah tonight. Could the Jazz do what no team has done this season?

ESPN's week 5 power rankings: LINK Someone else will have to explain how the Suns went 1-3 last week but moved up 2 spots to #17. Ok, Marc. I guess beating the Raptors will do that?

Utterly defenseless for a week, with losses at home and on the road to old friend Alvin Gentry's Pelicans, Phoenix then surprised itself by going north of the border to find its best win of the season. The next problem: The Bledsoe and B-Knight Show, with both guards averaging 20+ PPG and 5+ APG, still has five more games to go on this road trip.

Nationally televised games this week

Monday: San Antonio @ Chicago 8:00PM EST NBATv
Tuesday:Washington @ Cleveland 7:00PM EST NBATv, Dallas @ Portland 10:00PM EST NBATv
Wednesday: New Orleans @ Houston 8:00PM EST NBATv, Indiana @ Los Angeles Clippers 10:30PM EST NBATv
Thursday: Oklahoma City @ Miami 7:00PM EST TNT, San Antonio @ Memphis 9:30PM EST TNT
Friday: Brooklyn @ New York 7:00PM EST ESPN, Cleveland @ New Orleans 9:30PM EST ESPN
Saturday: Cleveland @ Miami 8:00PM EST NBATv
Sunday: Nothing.

NBA News

Kobe retiring sets the Lakers free to rebuild properly: LINK
What's up with the Wizards? LINK
The unfortunate demise of Ty Lawson: LINK
Durant and Westbrook are petty as fuck: LINK
Speaking of Durant and being petty, he's sticking up for.... Kobe? Why does he hate the media so much? They largely kiss his ass.

[Indy]

The media has been treating him like shit? Really? This is a guy that has admitted to raping* a girl, but still gets treated like royalty. And in a year where he is shooting so bad, that Steph Curry could miss his next 242 consecutive 3PAs and still have a better 3P% than Kobe, he is wrongfully being criticized? Please.

* OK, technically he just admitted that he now knows that the woman/girl didn't give her consent... let's mince words some more.

[carey]

The media has been treating him like shit? Really? This is a guy that has admitted to raping* a girl, but still gets treated like royalty. And in a year where he is shooting so bad, that Steph Curry could miss his next 242 consecutive 3PAs and still have a better 3P% than Kobe, he is wrongfully being criticized? Please.

* OK, technically he just admitted that he now knows that the woman/girl didn't give her consent... let's mince words some more.

Preaching to the choir buddy. He's NBA royalty? Well he's on my list of current NBA dirtbags with Chris Paul and Matt Barnes.

[Indy]

Yeah, that wasn't directed at you. Just the world in general. Obviously most NBA stars are not people that should be role models, but then there are the guys that are just awful human beings.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/nbadleague/status/671518533696778240

[pickle]

why is matt barnes an nba dirtbag? didn't he play for the suns for a while?

[carey]

why is matt barnes an nba dirtbag? didn't he play for the suns for a while?

You missed all the stuff this Summer where he beat up Derek Fisher for seeing Barnes' ex-wife?

[carey]

J. Okafor to get round the clock security guard (*cough* babysitter *cough*): LINK

[pickle]

why is matt barnes an nba dirtbag? didn't he play for the suns for a while?

You missed all the stuff this Summer where he beat up Derek Fisher for seeing Barnes' ex-wife?

Oh right. I did see that. I thought there was other stuff that he did on the court (other than being a hot head) that left him a less than sterling reputation.

[carey]

This could be it, Jazz up 2 with 2 min to go.

[carey]

Jazz down 1. Their ball. 16 seconds left. They can end it.

[carey]

Hood misses game winning 3.

[carey]

Warriors win. They are indestructible.

[Superbone]

Jazz gave it a good shot. Curry hit a couple tough 3s as usual. 19-0. Who will end it?

[Split T]

I'm gonna say they get through the next 3, then fall to 22-1, losing a close one in Indiana. Paul George has a big night, drops 40.

[The Bobster]

Philly ends their losing streak at 28 games by beating the Lakers.

And Kobe is probably the worst rotation player in the league.

[pickle]

This is probably not what the Sixers wanted, seeing as how they hold the Laker pick should it fall out of the top 3... I am not against that sort of a total overhaul, but it seems like the Sixers are quickly becoming the 90s Clippers, lottery every year, profitable every year, no real on-court product for the painful fans.

[Mori Chu]

Can't wait till Philly gets the #2 or 3 pick and uses it on yet another project center. How's that Embiid pick working out?

[pickle]

Given how clear it has been this short season that Noel is a center and has no game beyond 3 feet, I, too, can't understand the strategy anymore. I guess this off-season we can tell once and for all if they are actually in this thing to build a basketball team, or just a bunch of wall street types trying to make money by minimizing their costs and riding the growth of the franchise's total worth thanks to the TV deals. If they resign Covington to an actual real contract and move one of the three centers (or two) for other pieces and get a decent guard lineup, this team can actually turn around and become relevant almost instantly. If they dump Covington and keep plugging in development league players just to make the minimum roster/payroll requirements, then the experiment is an official farce.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Given how clear it has been this short season that Noel is a center and has no game beyond 3 feet, I, too, can't understand the strategy anymore. I guess this off-season we can tell once and for all if they are actually in this thing to build a basketball team, or just a bunch of wall street types trying to make money by minimizing their costs and riding the growth of the franchise's total worth thanks to the TV deals. If they resign Covington to an actual real contract and move one of the three centers (or two) for other pieces and get a decent guard lineup, this team can actually turn around and become relevant almost instantly. If they dump Covington and keep plugging in development league players just to make the minimum roster/payroll requirements, then the experiment is an official farce.

Sooner or later, they have to show either some progress, or some move beyond ridiculous. You are drawing a good sign to start measuring it.