Around the League: Week 3 11/10-11/16

[Dan H]

Morning dudes.

Channing Frye: "We're close to winning but that's still fucking losing." LINK

Kobe now owns that record for most missed FGAs. The photo they went with is pretty perfect considering how smug he always look. Seriously, I've never liked an athlete less and that includes Jordan. LINK

Funny charts that describe how bad the Lakers are: LINK

Zach Lowe article alert! LINK

The thing with Kobe is, he's kind of like Peyton Manning - he's so in-tune with PR and marketing that there's never a sense that anything he says or does is "real", but instead it's calculated to what appeals most or should be done by a 'star'.

[Indy]

Kobe's explanation for his unfortunate record:

Bryant was asked if, in those 13,421 misses, any particular ones stood out. Meaning, any shots he would really, really like back?

"Yeah, all the ones where I’ve had to bail the team out at the end of the shot clock," he said. "It annoys the crap out of me. Kills my field goal percentage."

Nice.

http://www.ocregister.com/lakers/memphi ... akers.html

That is so Kobe.

[Superbone]

Kobe's explanation for his unfortunate record:

Bryant was asked if, in those 13,421 misses, any particular ones stood out. Meaning, any shots he would really, really like back?

"Yeah, all the ones where I’ve had to bail the team out at the end of the shot clock," he said. "It annoys the crap out of me. Kills my field goal percentage."

Nice.

http://www.ocregister.com/lakers/memphi ... akers.html

Blame your teammates. Class act.

[Indy]

Exactly. He doesn't even say "us" in there. For being as media savvy as he is, it's like he doesn't even care anymore.

[SwingMan]

Is there any reason why we should be surprised at this point?

[iLLmatic]

Kobe's explanation for his unfortunate record:

Bryant was asked if, in those 13,421 misses, any particular ones stood out. Meaning, any shots he would really, really like back?

"Yeah, all the ones where I’ve had to bail the team out at the end of the shot clock," he said. "It annoys the crap out of me. Kills my field goal percentage."

Nice.

http://www.ocregister.com/lakers/memphi ... akers.html

That is so Kobe.

I guess he was forced to take those fadeaway jumpshots from the baseline or the top of the key, or forced to take those long contested 3 point shots. What a narcissistic asshole.

[Cap]

Kareem has 38387 points, Kobe has 31887 through the Memphis game. He needs 6500 points for to catch Kareem.

Karl Malone is the career leader in turnovers with 4524. Kobe has 3776 through the Memphis game, so Kobe needs 748 more to catch Karl.

In order to catch Kareem before Karl, he'd have to average at least 8.69 points per turnover from here on out. It's doable, but not likely. The last time he did it for a season was 2008-09. So far this season he's averaging 8.13 points per turnover. I wonder how he'll blame his teammates for the turnover record.

[Sunsfan4life]

The Blazers were up 82-50 on the Nuggets at the half. The same Blazers who were on a 2nd night of a back to back and had to rally from 23 down last night.

Brian Shaw is on shaky ground...

[Indy]

Kareem has 38387 points, Kobe has 31887 through the Memphis game. He needs 6500 points for to catch Kareem.

Karl Malone is the career leader in turnovers with 4524. Kobe has 3776 through the Memphis game, so Kobe needs 748 more to catch Karl.

In order to catch Kareem before Karl, he'd have to average at least 8.69 points per turnover from here on out. It's doable, but not likely. The last time he did it for a season was 2008-09. So far this season he's averaging 8.13 points per turnover. I wonder how he'll blame his teammates for the turnover record.

That will be fun to watch.

[Mori Chu]

I don't think he can catch Kareem. With all respect to Kobe's talents, he would need to score 25 ppg for four more years to get there. I'm not sure human legs can hold out like that. Nor that the Lakers would want to let him shoot them out of playoff contention for four more years.

[carey]

This is a must read from Pablo Torre on Michelle Roberts: LINK

"Why don't we have the owners play half the games?" Roberts said, speaking in her Harlem office to ESPN The Magazine. "There would be no money if not for the players."

"Let's call it what it is. There. Would. Be. No. Money," she added, pausing for emphasis. "Thirty more owners can come in, and nothing will change. These guys go? The game will change. So let's stop pretending."

The rookie wage scale, she argued, is also problematic, as are max contracts, another entrenched restriction of the NBA's free market that Roberts wants dissolved.

"I can't understand why the [players' association] would be interested in suppressing salaries at the top if we know that as salaries at the top have grown, so have salaries at the bottom," she said. "If that's the case, I contend that there is no reason in the world why the union should embrace salary caps or any effort to place a barrier on the amount of money that marquee players can make."

"It doesn't make sense to me that you're suddenly eligible and ready to make money when you're 20, but not when you're 19, not when you're 18," she said. "I suspect that the association will agree that this is not going to be one that they will agree to easily. There is no other profession that says that you're old enough to die but not old enough to work."

Roberts would also like to keep investigating the prospect of shortening the 82-game season, a desire already expressed by superstars such as LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki.

"Every time a player gets hurt, I think, my God, they really are pushing their bodies," she said. "And back-to-backs, those are the ones I really find disturbing. ... So the answer, of course, is that everybody wants a shorter season. The tension is, Will that mean less money? And that's something we need to talk about and think about. ... I don't think it would hurt the game to shorten the season."

In fact, Roberts doesn't think that teams are hurting for money, period -- even if she did recently hear Silver report that roughly a third of NBA franchises are still unprofitable.

"I initially just started laughing, to be honest with you," she said of her reaction to that statistic. "I know that as a result of the last CBA, at least 1.3 billion dollars in revenue that would have otherwise been on the players' side is now on the owners' side. I see the valuations of these teams going though the roof. ... How much more do you need to make money?"

"No one wants to say it out loud, but it's a monopoly," she said. "And were there alternatives, they wouldn't get away with it."

"I'll give the league credit," she added. "They have done a great job controlling the narrative."

Can you say lock out?

[Mori Chu]

Can you say lock out?

The owners will offer the players an elimination of max contracts and a bag of magic beans, and they'll take it. It'll be okay.

[ShelC]

I don't think there can be an elimination. They'll come up with some percentage, maybe points on the backend from revenue streams like merch, tickets, TV deals, etc for the top top players.

[Indy]

I don't think there can be an elimination. They'll come up with some percentage, maybe points on the backend from revenue streams like merch, tickets, TV deals, etc for the top top players.

I really doubt they will do that this time around.

[OE32]

There would also be no revenue were it not for the team structure, the marketing, the history, the standardization that makes things competitive, etc. I'm not a fan of "NBA basketball" and I'd rather play it than watch it. I'm a fan of the PHOENIX SUNS and while not every fan is that way, enough of us are that it makes a difference.

Fewer games = longer careers = fewer players. And that higher salary = higher salaries on bottom thing is bullshit. If that's what the players want, let em have it. But most of them would be fools to go along with LeBragenda.

[ShelC]

Darnell Mayberry just tweeted:

Eastern Conference exec tells @WojYahooNBA in that column on Reggie Jackson: "He’s a bigger Eric Bledsoe – and probably better."

[Ring_Wanted]

He won't last in OKC if he gets paid like a better Eric Bledsoe.

[carey]

I don't think Jackson is better but he's really good.

[In2ition]

Just don't ask him to be your skills challenge teammate if you want to win.

[INFORMER]

There would also be no revenue were it not for the team structure, the marketing, the history, the standardization that makes things competitive, etc. I'm not a fan of "NBA basketball" and I'd rather play it than watch it. I'm a fan of the PHOENIX SUNS and while not every fan is that way, enough of us are that it makes a difference.

Fewer games = longer careers = fewer players. And that higher salary = higher salaries on bottom thing is bullshit. If that's what the players want, let em have it. But most of them would be fools to go along with LeBragenda.

Roberts is an idiot. We might as well start calling her Pandora. She has no concept of reality. But she is smart in that she's just parroting every single thought and inclination players have. Someone needs to get it through to the players that the stardom and success they enjoy isn't solely a byproduct of their talent.

And again, Roberts can't poo-poo the owners claims to poverty all she wants; the players don't have any grounds to make that claim either, just point to Jodi Meeks, Chandler Parsons, etc.