Around the League: October

[Mori Chu]

I love this troll article about how Kobe's contract and legacy are crippling the Lakers.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... s-downfall

[carey]

I love this troll article about how Kobe's contract and legacy are crippling the Lakers.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... s-downfall

I'm in the process of reading it, but Henry Abbott is not known to be a troll.

[SDC]

I love this troll article about how Kobe's contract and legacy are crippling the Lakers.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... s-downfall

it was the lakers who gave him that contract. what other team would do the same last year?

[Ring_Wanted]

76rs/OKC to vote no to lottery reform:

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... r-opposed/

The reforms, which Lowe first reported in July, would give the four worst teams in the league identical odds (around 11 percent) at winning the top pick, with the fifth team having about a 10 percent chance and the rest of the teams declining. Under the current system, the team with the worst record has a 25 percent chance at the No. 1 pick and the second-worst team has a 19.9 percent chance, with each subsequent team’s odds declining slightly.

[carey]

Someone smarter than me will need to explain how the new lottery system solves any of the problems inherent in the last one. I just don't see it. 11% chance at the top pick if you suffer through the season as the worst team? It's nothing. We may never ever see the worst team pick first ever again. It may dissuade tanking but it doesn't actually look fair to me.

[SDC]

two changes are needed:

1) bottom 17 teams (including some playoff teams) should have equal shot at the top 4 lottery picks.

2) the top 2 seeds of the east and west can win their first round playoff series in three games. the 7th-8th seed needs to win 4 times to beat the #1 and #2. Format: HH-AA-HH (6 game series 1st vs 8th and 2nd vs 7th).

[carey]

Part 1 of Grantland's annual league pass rankings: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-a ... gs-part-1/

Not many Suns relevant bits other than....

Last year’s League Pass Rankings kicked off with Simmons writing, “If I watch more than 75 total minutes of the Suns this season, I’m gonna feel like I failed.”

The lowest possible score? Zero. The highest possible score? 100. (Hypothetically achieved by the 1986 Celts, 2005 Suns, 2011 Heat and 1982 Lakers.)

Category No. 2: Hoops Nerdgasm Potential: Covers special events like, “OH MY GOD, Phoenix is playing Bledsoe, Dragic and Isaiah Thomas right now with Gerald Green at the 4 and a Morris twin at center!”

Category No. 5: Unintentional Comedy/Irrational Affection/Personality Intangibles
This intentionally vague category covers moments like, “Byron Scott is defending Phoenix’s 3-guard offense with Jeremy Lin, Nick Young and Steve Nash right now.”

That's it since we'll probably be in the upper 1/3 of watchability.

[Ring_Wanted]

We may never ever see the worst team pick first ever again. It may dissuade tanking but it doesn't actually look fair to me.

I believe tanking has been unnecessarily turned into a problem by all the media attention it got this past season, and mainly because of the hype frenzy surrounding the 2014 draft class.

If you want to fight this phenom it is because you consider it something dishonest to do as a franchise. Personally, I don't think that way. If a FO wants to go the tank/rebuild route, that's their prerogative, above all the not so glamurous ones. It doesn't come risk free for anyone, so I don't have a problem with it.

[Mori Chu]

What Philly has done the past 2 years is unacceptable. And what's worse, the system actively encourages them to do it.

I really like a system where there's no particular benefit to being the worst team. But I do generally believe that bad teams that need help should have a higher chance to get it.

So I don't believe in a "flat" lottery where every non-playoff team gets equal odds, but I like a "tiered" lottery where maybe the 5-7 worst teams get equal odds, then the next 3-4 get equal odds, and so on. That way there's no real incentive to lose 2-3 more games to get worse.

[carey]

Morning link dump.

Derrick Rose does stuff against the Cavs: http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/10/20/ ... -cavaliers (Carey's note: He's moving so well, please basketball Gods give us one more injury free season of basketball from Rose. He deserves it. We deserve it.)

LeBron says the Bulls are better than the Cavs right now: http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/10/20/ ... cago-bulls
(Carey's note: The guy in that video pronounced the TH in Thibodeau. Weird. Also, if Rose is himself then I think they might be better than Cleveland but only because the Cavs haven't even played a single game with LeBron & Love yet.)

Blake Griffin is going to start beating people's ass this year: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow ... story.html (Carey's note: Better late than never? Why not try to stop flopping first? Oh, right. Chris Paul.)

Uncle Cliffy was arrested:

Always worth a read D.A.'s Morning Tip: http://www.nba.com/2014/news/features/d ... index.html

[Ring_Wanted]

What Philly has done the past 2 years is unacceptable.

I don't really agree here. They have taken it to a new level, but if that's how they want to treat their business and fanbase, I say let them do it. If they are willing to endure the loss of attendance, ratings, sales, etc, let them have it.

If they make the right personnel decisions and in three or four years they have become a good team with stars from the draft, have no doubt that the arena will get full and the jerseys will be sold again, and it would have been worth it.

If they blow their picks the FO, coach, etc will be fired sooner or later, and someone will come with the opposite strategy, spending money on vets and making win now moves.

Besides, I think the degree of tanking by the Sixers have been overstated because they have taken two straight prospects who are scheduled to miss their first year in the NBA due to injury, and in my opinion considering the pick they had each draft, they made the right call. Noels and Embiid supposedly were the best draftees available so I don't fault Hickie for taking them.

After that, what they have done? Refuse to spend on veteran free agents, pawning off the likes of Hawes, Turner and Young and go with new and younger guys. That's pretty standard when you are rebuilding.

In the end, most people are not hardcore fans anyway, so if the product is not entertaining for one reason or another, they take their money elsewhere until the team is watchable again. Atlanta has made the playoffs what, seven years in a row, and their arena is always half empty. Indiana has had the same problem, and obviously there are more examples. So I don't fault a franchise for having the guts to do with a straight face something that actually has been going on forever.

[Superbone]

That's it since we'll probably be in the upper 1/3 of watchability.

They learned their lesson from last year.

[INFORMER]

Carey's note: The guy in that video pronounced the TH in Thibodeau. Weird.

Actually, I think that's how you're suppose to pronounce it. Just no one does.

[INFORMER]

What Philly has done the past 2 years is unacceptable.

I don't really agree here. They have taken it to a new level, but if that's how they want to treat their business and fanbase, I say let them do it.

...

So I don't fault a franchise for having the guts to do with a straight face something that actually has been going on forever.

If they have taken it to a new level, then they aren't doing what "has been going on forever."

I also agree with league's stance to reject the notion of "if Philly wants to treat their business and fanbase this way, then so be it." That position is irresponsible. Sure, you afford franchises a level of independence, freedom, and self-determination, but at the end of the day, each franchise has an impact on and is representative of the league as a whole, so at some point, the league has to take an interest in and even responsibility for the activity of its franchises.

[carey]

The Vic got paid. 4/54.
https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/524696859487379456

[INFORMER]

I could live with handing out that contract.

[SDC]

What Philly has done the past 2 years is unacceptable. And what's worse, the system actively encourages them to do it.

I really like a system where there's no particular benefit to being the worst team. But I do generally believe that bad teams that need help should have a higher chance to get it.

So I don't believe in a "flat" lottery where every non-playoff team gets equal odds, but I like a "tiered" lottery where maybe the 5-7 worst teams get equal odds, then the next 3-4 get equal odds, and so on. That way there's no real incentive to lose 2-3 more games to get worse.

some teams like milwaukee and minnesota, the only way they can get talent is through the draft. i think a better idea is for them to relocate.

[The Bobster]

some teams like milwaukee and minnesota, the only way they can get talent is through the draft. i think a better idea is for them to relocate.

or they make a trade once-in-a-while.

[SDC]

some teams like milwaukee and minnesota, the only way they can get talent is through the draft. i think a better idea is for them to relocate.

or they make a trade once-in-a-while.

sure, but retaining them is another story. and most free agents avoid those teams if they could.

[Ring_Wanted]

If they have taken it to a new level, then they aren't doing what "has been going on forever."

To me it is the same other teams have done in the past, like the Spurs, Celtics or Warriors. I said that it is a new level because they are not trying to mask it and because they have drafted three guys they can't play right away, but people are acting like the Sixers have invented this strategy and that's not true.

You could argue that the problem with what's going on in Philadelphia is that they are 'abusing' this style of rebuilding, but I think that's more a product of the specific circumstances of the last two drafts, because beyond selecting three guys who can't play, all they have done is what every other rebuilding team has tried before. They have moved their Dudleys and Gortats, have taken useless contracts to add picks and have refused to spend on veterans. I see no need to call them out.