Around the League: Week 9 2/15-2/21

[ShelC]

[Mori Chu]

Lakers should be worried. Davis has been experiencing lots of pain in his Achilles tendon area as well as swelling. I'm no doctor, but you don't want to mess around with Achilles stuff. That injury takes a couple years to come back from, and you don't know if you'll get back to 100%. If I were them I'd sit Davis until close to the playoffs even if it loses them some games. You have to think long-term with Anthony Davis; he is the future of the franchise for the next 5 years or more. And they have already won a title with him, so the pressure is reduced to have him out there for every game.

[Split T]

I think AD is done until after the all star break at least.

[SunsRIt]

This sounds a lot like the strained Achilles my daughter had in high school. She played soccer. It ended up being totally immobilized for 9 weeks. She was in a boot 24/7 until it healed. She even had to sleep in it so the Achilles did not move at all when the foot moved. If she didn’t wear the boot the Achilles would live in the sheath when the foot flexed causing further aggravation.

[bajanguy008]

Simmons drops 42 on the Jazz
That's hard for me to envision so have to peep the highlights

Clarkson went for 40 off the Bench tho lol so Jazz keep rolling

[Indy]

I think AD is done until after the all star break at least.

Good thing for the lakers that lebron is playing like he is 27, not 36.

[Indy]

Speaking of that, now that bbref charges to look this stuff up, does anyone know if there has ever been a 36 year old scoring over 25 (especially while getting 8 board and 8 assists a game)? I assumed Malone might have been close and he did get the points+boards, but not the assists obviously.

[Wally_West]

LeBron is the GOAT. Plain and simple.

[Split T]

Speaking of that, now that bbref charges to look this stuff up, does anyone know if there has ever been a 36 year old scoring over 25 (especially while getting 8 board and 8 assists a game)? I assumed Malone might have been close and he did get the points+boards, but not the assists obviously.

Malone averaged 25.5 as a 36 year old. Added 9 boards and 3 assists.

[Split T]

Simmons drops 42 on the Jazz
That's hard for me to envision so have to peep the highlights

Clarkson went for 40 off the Bench tho lol so Jazz keep rolling

Jazz defended him with Rudy for at least the 1st Q where he dropped 19...Rudy hung out near the hoop, made it easy for Simmons to get in the paint. No Embiid tonight, so everyone else was spacing the floor.

[The Bobster]

Speaking of that, now that bbref charges to look this stuff up, does anyone know if there has ever been a 36 year old scoring over 25 (especially while getting 8 board and 8 assists a game)? I assumed Malone might have been close and he did get the points+boards, but not the assists obviously.

LeBron James (36) - 25.5
Karl Malone (36) - 25.5
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38) - 23.4
Karl Malone (37) - 23.2
Michael Jordan (38) - 22.9
Karl Malone (38) - 22.4
Kobe Bryant (36) - 22.3
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (37) - 22.0
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (36) - 21.5
Karl Malone (39) - 20.6
Michael Jordan (39) - 20.0

[The Bobster]

LeBron is the GOAT. Plain and simple.

Well, not quite that simple.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Speaking of that, now that bbref charges to look this stuff up, does anyone know if there has ever been a 36 year old scoring over 25 (especially while getting 8 board and 8 assists a game)? I assumed Malone might have been close and he did get the points+boards, but not the assists obviously.

LeBron James (36) - 25.5
Karl Malone (36) - 25.5
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38) - 23.4
Karl Malone (37) - 23.2
Michael Jordan (38) - 22.9
Karl Malone (38) - 22.4
Kobe Bryant (36) - 22.3
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (37) - 22.0
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (36) - 21.5
Karl Malone (39) - 20.6
Michael Jordan (39) - 20.0

I think the most impressive thing to me about Kareem, even more than his scoring record, is the amount of time that passed between him winning Finals MVP awards in 1971 and 1985. Amazing he was that effective at 38; I heard he did a lot of yoga to prolong his career.

[The Bobster]

Kareem's last really productive year was at age 38, then he started to slip, but he did play until he was 41.

When you look at the other players of his era who played until they were "really old" Elvin Hayes played until he was 38, but his last really good year was at 34; Julius Erving retired at 36 but his last great year was at age 34; John Havlicek was still being named to the All-Star team when he retired at 37 but his last great year was at 33; Artis Gilmore played until he was 38 but his last great season was at 35; and Moses Malone played until he was 39 with his last great year being at 34.

So advances in training, nutrition and medicine seem to have lengthened the peak years for players, quite possibly because of the money involved and the desire to play longer and cash in.

[Indy]

Speaking of that, now that bbref charges to look this stuff up, does anyone know if there has ever been a 36 year old scoring over 25 (especially while getting 8 board and 8 assists a game)? I assumed Malone might have been close and he did get the points+boards, but not the assists obviously.

LeBron James (36) - 25.5
Karl Malone (36) - 25.5
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38) - 23.4
Karl Malone (37) - 23.2
Michael Jordan (38) - 22.9
Karl Malone (38) - 22.4
Kobe Bryant (36) - 22.3
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (37) - 22.0
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (36) - 21.5
Karl Malone (39) - 20.6
Michael Jordan (39) - 20.0

thank you. So nobody 36 or older has averaged more than Lebron is now. And he doesn't look like he is getting older. If he can keep up his 38% 3P shooting on 7 attempts a game, he can keep that average up there a couple more years.

[bajanguy008]

Yikes

[ShelC]

Geez, 4 positives on one team is almost as bad as the total number all season.

[Mori Chu]

It's pretty amazing what Lebron is still doing at his age. He is probably the "GOAT" if your metric is sustained excellence of play over so many years, rivaled only by Kareem IMO. I still prefer Jordan due to his will to win and his championship success over the entire '90s, but MJ wouldn't have done what Lebron is doing to keep his health at its peak for so long. MJ went out to party and smoke and gamble, and though MJ did have productive years even into his 40s, he wasn't working incessantly to maintain his health at the level Lebron is clearly doing.

[Wormwood]

So... if Griffin gets bought out (because, realistically, no one is going to trade for a $38M per year player with another year left who's playing badly), would we want to take a flier on him with a a vet min deal? How well did he get along with CP3? Given our woes at PF, does he fit as a big, physical 4 who can pass and shoot the three a little?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/309 ... r-all-star

[ShelC]

NOPE.