Around the League: October

[INFORMER]

11 points, 20 rebounds for Rudy Gobert tonight in 22 minutes of play.

[carey]

11 points, 20 rebounds for Rudy Gobert tonight in 22 minutes of play.

I'm going to wind up eating massive crow on that one. He looked like barely a basketball player when he entered the draft.

[Mori Chu]

Remember when we talked about the Spurs being a boy scout / squeaky clean organization? Here's an article that kind of looks into that: http://thedissnba.com/2014/10/10/a-sini ... er-issues/

Talks about the local press in S.A. kind of insulating them from their issues, etc. Maybe worth a read.

I think that is pretty shallow journalism to try to use Gary Neal's rape charge and Budenholzer's DUI against the organization when both took place when the each individual was not apart of the Spurs organization. And let's not act like Gary Neal was the face of the franchise either.

Poppovich is rude to reporters? Wow, you really are shedding the light on uncharted waters.

I really don't think there is a perception that the Spurs have infallible character. I think they're celebrated for their rare ability to stay at or near the top of the conference, their savvy front office moves, and their textbook style of play on the court.

Finally, I can't think of a single local media the TMZs their own team.

I do think the media tends to minimize Spur gossip and drama. For example, what other team could have an occurrence like Tony Parker dating Eva Longoria with such little gossip and fanfare? And then the more recent business about Parker and Brent Barry (I think it was)'s wife and affairs and so on? Not much was really made of that in the media. If it were the Knicks? Hoo, boy.

But the Spurs have been mostly very solid citizens, so they don't really deserve much media bashing and TMZ-ing in the first place, overall.

[Superbone]

I really don't think there is a perception that the Spurs have infallible character. I think they're celebrated for their rare ability to stay at or near the top of the conference, their savvy front office moves, and their textbook style of play on the court.

Infallible character?! Has everybody already forgotten about Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry?

[iLLmatic]

Gary Neal raped too.

[Phoenix219]

Neal was mentioned already; it was before he was a Spurs player, and was mentioned in the article. Inf said he *doesn't* think there is any perception of them being infallible. And obviously, no one has forgotten Robert Horry....

[OE32]

11 points, 20 rebounds for Rudy Gobert tonight in 22 minutes of play.

I'm going to wind up eating massive crow on that one. He looked like barely a basketball player when he entered the draft.

I've been lamenting since summer league the fact that Gobert, by all appearances, looks like the guy we should've wanted that fateful day in 2013.

[Dan H]

Fantasy basketball is going to be interesting, I don't know who half these freaking guys are y'all are talking about.

[TOO]

Gary Neal raped too.

This was supposed to be our little secret.

[carey]

Lowe's 33 Crazy Predictions for the NBA Season: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/33-cr ... ba-season/

Suns related bits.

14. The same eight teams will make the Western Conference playoffs.

I can’t settle on a team that should fall out, nor a usurper that might overthrow them. Internal team projections around the league peg Memphis as the most likely victim, but the Grizz won 50 games last season despite the prolonged absences of Gasol and Tony Allen. The ages of Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Vince Carter turn off the stats-based projections, but this is a deep team that brings ferocious defense every night.

Portland finished “just” 23-19 after a blazing start, and it skated by with a rickety and absurdly low-risk defense that doesn’t figure to get all that much better. Houston lost Chandler Parsons, Golden State relies on a few nicked-up bodies, and the Mavs squeaked in.

Everyone below the Spurs-Thunder-Clippers triumvirate is one big injury away from disaster, but the same goes for the Pelicans, Suns, and Nuggets. If Tyreke Evans starts, the Pelicans will have zero reliable depth beyond Ryan Anderson, and they’ll have some spacing issues playing Evans, Anthony Davis, and Omer Asik together.

The Pelicans have to figure out the optimal fit of all their ball handlers after a season of injuries. The potential is there; some of the lineups that figure to play a ton this season blitzed the league in limited minutes last season.

Markieff Morris is a better overall player than Channing Frye, but he’s not in Frye’s league as a long-range shooter, and the Phoenix sprites will have to squeeze through tighter driving lanes. The Suns won’t catch the league off guard again, and a bunch of guys, especially Goran Dragic, have to show they can replicate career years. Then again, Eric Bledsoe missed half of last season. Man, the West is unfair.

31. Phoenix will trade Gerald Green.

It’s a matter of math. The Suns just inked Bledsoe, Isaiah Thomas, Zoran Dragic, and the Morii to multiyear contracts, and they’ll get an extra first-round pick from the Lakers at some point over the next three seasons. Barring a big trade, the roster is damn near full going forward.

Green will be a free agent in July, and while he was productive raining 3s for Phoenix last season, he may not have a future here. Trading him would be a gamble, since the Suns don’t have a traditional shooting guard with Green’s range. P.J. Tucker is a defense-first small forward, Marcus Morris is a tweener forward, and it’s unclear if Zoran Dragic and Archie Goodwin are ready to contribute.

The Suns do have three starting-quality point guards, and those guys will eat up a lot of the shooting guard minutes. Green is movable, and if the Suns can get a couple of second-rounders for him, they might pull the trigger.

[Mori Chu]

Thanks for posting that. Zach Lowe is one of the best NBA writers right now. I always enjoy his columns.

[Shabazz]

The best, IMO.

[carey]

http://grantland.com/2014-bill-and-jalen-nba-preview/

Bill and Jalen's '14-'15 preview.

Edit: Sorry, but I thought it was one video for the entire thing. They are doing a video for every team instead so I've linked to the page.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Gary Neal raped too.

This was supposed to be our little secret.

Hahaha!!

[INFORMER]

Markieff Morris is a better overall player than Channing Frye, but he’s not in Frye’s league as a long-range shooter, and the Phoenix sprites will have to squeeze through tighter driving lanes. The Suns won’t catch the league off guard again, and a bunch of guys, especially Goran Dragic, have to show they can replicate career years. Then again, Eric Bledsoe missed half of last season. Man, the West is unfair.

You don't make the commitments the Suns did to Bledsoe and the Morris Twins and miss the playoffs. Doing so would be an epic fail.

[INFORMER]

31. Phoenix will trade Gerald Green.

Yep, it fits the rest of Ryan's recent decisions. Gotta love giving the 4th best small forward on the roster a 4-year contract extension.

[Mori Chu]

I got a chuckle out of this. A guy asks women on Tinder (dating site) to predict the upcoming NBA season.

[Wally_West]

I got a chuckle out of this. A guy asks women on Tinder (dating site) to predict the upcoming NBA season.

Kora wins!

[Ring_Wanted]

You don't make the commitments the Suns did to Bledsoe and the Morris Twins and miss the playoffs. Doing so would be an epic fail.

There are many reasons as to why the Suns could miss the playoffs that don't involve Bledsoe and the Morrii and their new contracts, or PJ's for that matter.

From a global standpoint you obviously want to see the fruit from those deals, but it is perfectly possible that those players live up to what they signed yet the Suns can't crack the top 8 in the west. Dragic and Plumlee are as critical (if not more) to our aspirations as that bunch.

[Mori Chu]

Over at Grantland, Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose have started doing their 2014-15 NBA preview. They do a set of ~15-minute YouTube videos, one on every team, counting up from the worst team in the league (Philly) up to the best. They've just posted their first two videos and seem to be planning to do 1-2 per day until the start of the season. Good stuff.

http://grantland.com/2014-bill-and-jalen-nba-preview/