Around the League Week 8 (12/6 - 12/12)

[Mori Chu]

Love seeing the Lakers lose. They currently at .500 and stuck in a morass with teams like Dallas, Denver, Minnesota, and Sacramento. They could honestly miss the play-in if they stay this bad, though I doubt that will happen.

[Split T]

Love seeing the Lakers lose. They currently at .500 and stuck in a morass with teams like Dallas, Denver, Minnesota, and Sacramento. They could honestly miss the play-in if they stay this bad, though I doubt that will happen.

Gonna be hard to miss the play-in. Only 5 teams don’t at least make the play-in and we’ve still got OKC, Houston, New Orleans, and San Antonio, none of which are any good. So basically only 1 other team will get left out and all the teams fighting are mostly a mess too(Denver with injuries, Portland, Sacramento)

[Superbone]

Love seeing the Lakers lose. They currently at .500 and stuck in a morass with teams like Dallas, Denver, Minnesota, and Sacramento. They could honestly miss the play-in if they stay this bad, though I doubt that will happen.

Gonna be hard to miss the play-in. Only 5 teams don’t at least make the play-in and we’ve still got OKC, Houston, New Orleans, and San Antonio, none of which are any good. So basically only 1 other team will get left out and all the teams fighting are mostly a mess too(Denver with injuries, Portland, Sacramento)

You're telling me that the hottest team in the league, the Houston Rockets, currently on a 7 game win streak are no good?

[Mori Chu]

You're telling me that the hottest team in the league, the Houston Rockets, currently on a 7 game win streak are no good?

Now that they don't have Harden and Westbrook, I don't really have anything against the Rockets. Would be happy to see them succeed. I like the young core they're starting to build, but they're still obviously a few years away.

[Mori Chu]

I was just looking at the league standings:

https://www.espn.com/nba/standings

I am curious about how some teams that have felt improperly ranked would progress as the season went on. One example was the Wizards, who I feel weren't as good as their record. Now they're in the #5 seed in the East and are 4-6 in their last 10. I would expect them to drop even further.

Amazingly the Bucks are in the #3 seed and are just 1.5 games out of #1, yet nobody is really talking about them. What a great gift to them, that even as the champs they're being underestimated. And sooner or later they'll get their guys back and be much stronger. I still think they're the best team in the East.

The Cavs have the #6 seed. They look really exciting. Mobley is such a find for them; happy to see that team find a young star they can build around. He's really fun to watch. Averaging around 14 ppg, 8 rpg, and 2 blocks.

The Celtics and Knicks are currently #10 and #11, respectively. I expect both teams to rise as the season goes on. But the Knicks seem to have been a one-season wonder; I suspect their success and hype last year was basically a fluke. I don't believe in a team that is built around Julius Randle.

Out West things are about the same as they've been. The Warriors and Suns are way out in front; then you have the Jazz 3 games behind in #3; then a cluster of teams from #4 - 12 that are all apart by 0.5 - 1 games from the next team down. Memphis and the Clippers can probably hold out the most hope to go up in the standings because they are missing key star players in Morant and Leonard. I don't know how the Nuggets are hovering at .500 with so many guys missing; it's basically Jokic and a bunch of bantha fodder. I am also kind of watching the Spurs win total, because I believe Popovich needs 26 wins this year to set the all-time NBA coaching wins record. I suspect he'll get there this season. Will that cause him to retire?

[Superbone]

I am also kind of watching the Spurs win total, because I believe Popovich needs 26 wins this year to set the all-time NBA coaching wins record. I suspect he'll get there this season. Will that cause him to retire?

I bet he's going for it and will retire after achieving it.

[bajanguy008]

[bajanguy008]

[bajanguy008]

[bajanguy008]

[Superbone]

Wow, Mr. Ornge hit the big time.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I don't know anything about that guy, but good for him. He might've been at games with 10 people in his section watching with some of the garbage the Suns were putting out a while ago.

[bajanguy008]

I say it all the time that I don't watch ESPN unless it's a live game but things like Sportscenter and the talk shows I have no time/energy for anymore.

Went to check standings though so obviously peeped ESPN home page to get there

The best team in the league played last night minus it's two young stars. The "other" best team lol isn't playing til tonight and the two legit teams out East also played

I present to you the current headlines on there Home Page

[bajanguy008]

I'm gonna shout out the Rockets again. Their win streak got to 7 beating Nets without KD so I was like man it's cool but first legit team they gonna get that reality check

Well it took one of those ridiculous Giannis games for Bucks to beat them. Rockets had multiple chances to cut it to a one possession game under 2mins left. Think that now puts Bucks big 3 at 12-0 this season but I might watch that game in full later cause I'm intrigued what has changed.
Jalen Green is Injured so hasn't been a part of their recent success which is also interesting

[Split T]

Fans love Steph…as much as it would be nice for ESPN to just cover everyone equally and fairly, they are a business and they are going to report on the stuff that makes them money. I became much happier when I stopped paying attention to anything espn and it’s big reporters say. There’s much better content out there. I think Zach Lowe is the only guy at ESPN I really care to hear. The ringer does much better covering the league as a whole. Or guys like Nekias Duncan.

[Split T]

For suns content I love our own guys: The timeline podcast guys who are starting to make it big time with their appearance on the ringer and David Nash and his suns newsletter. He also appeared on Nekias Duncan’s pod.

Think Kellan Olson and Duane Rankin do a pretty good job as beat writers as well.

[bajanguy008]

Agreed Split

I know where to source good info on the guys but I mean even our Game Recap link isn't even on the front page
"Minus Booker and Ayton, Suns show depth in big win over C's"
Nothing like that ? Smh lol

Ironically we are on the Home Page headlines still with the Sarver news but not our play. Tsk Tsk

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Agreed Split

I know where to source good info on the guys but I mean even our Game Recap link isn't even on the front page
"Minus Booker and Ayton, Suns show depth in big win over C's"
Nothing like that ? Smh lol

Ironically we are on the Home Page headlines still with the Sarver news but not our play. Tsk Tsk

It’s not irony anymore, it’s once again, the click-baiting business model trumping over actual news and coverage. It’s every where nowadays.

But at least they didn’t feature the Lakers win.

[Superbone]

Hey, it's fine. Let's remain uncovered and shock the world once again with another Finals appearance. This time taking the crown. Maybe then we'd make the front page. Maybe.

[pickle]

There sure are a lot of players entering covid protocols these days. Interestingly only LeBron had the false positive. Probably not a conspiracy theory thing but that he is one of the more careful players in the league. Besides violating protocols last playoffs of course.