The NBA

[Growsonwalls]

I have this theory about Kyrie. I wonder if he has basketball burnout. From what I understand both Kyrie's parents were basketball players and when his mother passed away at the age of 4 his father Drederick devoted all his energy to his talented son. I've seen interviews and Drederick seems to be a bit of a helicopter parent. Kyrie was in AAU teams and summer camps and what not from an early age. Basketball has been his full time job since he was a little kid. Of course you could basically say the same about all NBA players but some players are built for this life and some aren't. Talent isn't enough. You need a lot of discipline, determination, pain tolerance, good relationships with your teammates, all things Kyrie seems to struggle with.

[xaxat]

Dear Nets

It looks like Kyrie will miss another game tonight. During his absence, you will have paid him about three million dollars.

Can I get that deal? I promise I will actually show up for games and will give you exactly the same stats as AWOL Kyrie.

(As I type this Kendrick Perkins reminded me that Kyrie is a VP of the players' union.)

(Oh, and they just scrolled that Harden is headed to the Nets. Wonder if that will light a fire under Kyrie's ass.)

Edited January 13, 2021 by xaxat

[emmawoodhouse]

Yup, just came here to post about Harden. No deets yet, but Woj and Ramona Shelburne are both reporting it.

eta Maybe they traded Kyrie? 😲

Edited January 13, 2021 by emmawoodhouse

[xaxat]

This makes my head hurt.

 

[Danny Franks]

Brooklyn are desperate not to waste KD's last years, it seems. Kyrie is done there, I'm sure. He's always been a liability and has never been ready to accept being second fiddle, let alone third.

Losing Allen and LaVert isn't necessarily going to result in a net gain for them, though. They're going to be a two-man team.

[DrSpaceman73]

Levert to the pacers, pretty good return for oladipo, who could have just left in free agency after the season.  

[xaxat]

Sportswriter Dave Zirin tweeted that the Nets are now the most emo NBA team ever and I am totally there for it.

[emma675]

Good lord, I can't believe what the Nets gave up to get Harden. I've never understood the fuss over him. Yes, he's an amazing player, when he feels like it. He's as flaky as Kyrie in a lot of ways and a temperamental, selfish ass when he doesn't get his way. I'm happy neither of my favorite teams traded for him.

[Fukui San]

Nets fans better hope their owner doesn't get bored of owning an NBA team like their previous owner did.

[Growsonwalls]

A healthy Kevin Durant can take a team deep into the playoffs. He is unguardable when he's on. I think the idea is to get a #2 who is also a good shooter and scorer. Question is whether James Harden is willing to be #2. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were but there were some rumors of resentment even on Steve Kerr's Very Tight Disciplined Warriorship.

[xaxat]

19 hours ago, Fukui San said:

Nets fans better hope their owner doesn't get bored of owning an NBA team like their previous owner did.

Joseph Tsai might be a little distracted now. He's one of the top executives/shareholders at the Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. They have really fallen out of favor with the Communist Party and the company is under investigation. His fellow co-founder has taken an uncharacteristically low profile the last couple of months.

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by xaxat

[grommit2]

Well now...Durant, Kyrie, and now Harden. on the Brooklyn Nets.
My old high school coach would be mystified by the inability to play with three basketballs at one time.
He used to strongly suggest SHARE THE ROCK...and he said it with, um, loud emphasis
 

[emma675]

Does anyone have NBA League Pass? Up until tonight I've been able to find live streams online of games out of my market, but it seems most of them have suddenly disappeared. I'm thinking of signing up for the Team Pass one to be able to see my other team's games, but I don't know anyone who uses it. 

[Growsonwalls]

So what;s the deal with Dame Lillard? Obviously really talented player, with a sweet baby face and some musical aspirations. But I just saw him give an interview that rivals Kyrie Irving in terms of sulkiness. He was pissed that some reporter didn't call him and CJ McCollum "the best back court in the league." 

What's wrong with you Dame? Cheer up. 

 

[Danny Franks]

On 1/14/2021 at 4:00 AM, Growsonwalls said:

A healthy Kevin Durant can take a team deep into the playoffs. He is unguardable when he's on. I think the idea is to get a #2 who is also a good shooter and scorer. Question is whether James Harden is willing to be #2. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were but there were some rumors of resentment even on Steve Kerr's Very Tight Disciplined Warriorship.

I don't think Steph or Klay were ever the ones rumoured to be resentful, though. But KD is a very needy, sensitive player and I don't see how he and Harden are going to co-exist. This is not the same Harden who was an up-and-comer in OKC when Durant was there.

Oh well, the implosion will be fun to watch.

[emmawoodhouse]

KAT just announced that he's positive. Didn't he lose his mom and other family members to Covid? 😰

Edited January 16, 2021 by emmawoodhouse

[emmawoodhouse]

Message from KAT.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKFZxSKrjiQ/?igshid=4xa6z03rfr6e

[xaxat]

 

[Lamb18]

On 1/15/2021 at 5:47 PM, emmawoodhouse said:

KAT just announced that he's positive. Didn't he lose his mom and other family members to Covid? 😰

Yes, he's lost both his mom and a bunch of relatives. Now he has it. It seems hard for one person to take.

[xaxat]

Harden debuts with a 32/14/12. Durant scores 42.

And they have to find enough ball for Kyrie?

[Growsonwalls]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

Harden debuts with a 32/14/12. Durant scores 42.

And they have to find enough ball for Kyrie?

I think the point is Kyrie can show up ... or he doesn;t, and it won't matter.

I'm really heartened to see John Wall and KD come back so strong from Achilles ruptures. That used to be the career ending injury. It felled such greats as Isiah Thomas, Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor. Maybe sports medicine has improved that much.

[Growsonwalls]

Two great games on TNT today. Bucks vs. Nets and Lakers vs. Warriors. Nets are looking like they might not even need Kyrie. There must be nothing as terrifying to the opposing team as KD with the ball. It seems as if double teams don;t even phase him. 

Lakers played a pretty bad fourth quarter. They really should have won that game. 

OT but anyone know the story behind the nickname "Slim Reaper"? Apparently Durant doesn't like the nickname?

[AimingforYoko]

8 hours ago, Growsonwalls said:

OT but anyone know the story behind the nickname "Slim Reaper"? Apparently Durant doesn't like the nickname?

I don't know who coined it but it's pretty easy to parse, he's death to teams and he's skinny. I guess Durant doesn't like the second part being pointed out.

[Growsonwalls]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

I don't know who coined it but it's pretty easy to parse, he's death to teams and he's skinny. I guess Durant doesn't like the second part being pointed out.

Oh I got the nickname right away and think it's great. Just wondered why he doesn;t like it.

 

[Growsonwalls]

Delonte West now working at the rehab center he attended.

[xaxat]

Good for him. My favorite Delonte moment actually didn't happen on the court.

 

[twoods]

Kyrie coming back and saying he “just needed a pause” is so freaking irritating. You have a job and it is your responsibility to tell your coaches and the owner that pays you what’s going on. If you told them you needed some time off they may have given it to you, but now you’ve caused this spectacle and will likely whine about constantly being asked about it because you told no one where you were and what’s going on! What an entitled jerk.

Edited January 19, 2021 by twoods

[emma675]

4 minutes ago, twoods said:

Kyrie coming back and saying he “just needed a pause” is so freaking irritating. You have a job and it is your responsibility to tell your coaches and the owner that pays you what’s going on. If you told them you needed some time off they may have given it to you, but now you’ve caused this spectacle and will likely whine about constantly being asked about it because you told no one where you were and what’s going on! What an entitled jerk.

I would be fired (and so would most people) if I just disappeared from my job for a few days without warning and came back saying "I just needed a pause". Good lord, he is such a flake. I don't care how charitable and generous he is off the court, if he can't be an adult and go to work, or give his bosses and teammates a reason why not, they can't count on him and he shouldn't be paid for the time he missed. 

[AimingforYoko]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

Good for him. My favorite Delonte moment actually didn't happen on the court.

 

Here's my favorite:

 

[Growsonwalls]

23 minutes ago, emma675 said:

I would be fired (and so would most people) if I just disappeared from my job for a few days without warning and came back saying "I just needed a pause". Good lord, he is such a flake. I don't care how charitable and generous he is off the court, if he can't be an adult and go to work, or give his bosses and teammates a reason why not, they can't count on him and he shouldn't be paid for the time he missed. 

He's definitely a very odd number. 

His body language in this interview is ... uh ... strange.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Growsonwalls

[grommit2]

3 hours ago, emma675 said:

I would be fired (and so would most people) if I just disappeared from my job for a few days without warning and came back saying "I just needed a pause". Good lord, he is such a flake. I don't care how charitable and generous he is off the court, if he can't be an adult and go to work, or give his bosses and teammates a reason why not, they can't count on him and he shouldn't be paid for the time he missed. 

Twoods and emma675 and Grosonwalls
I offer this...How about the coach and/or GM talk to Kyrie, one of the team's stars, the guy they pay tons of money to, the co-leader of the team and inform him how they are going to improve the team. For pete's sake these managers know Kyrie is a bit twitchy on these issues.  Yes, they pay him lots of money, but they should realize what they hired when the brought him on board.  It is no secret that he wants some attention.  They could easily have talked to him about this move.  But, failing to do so, puts one of the league's star players into a funk.  And puts the team's success into jeopardy.  Yes, he is flakey, but he sure can take the rock to the hole. 

 

[NUguy514]

4 hours ago, grommit2 said:

Twoods and emma675 and Grosonwalls
I offer this...How about the coach and/or GM talk to Kyrie, one of the team's stars, the guy they pay tons of money to, the co-leader of the team and inform him how they are going to improve the team. For pete's sake these managers know Kyrie is a bit twitchy on these issues.  Yes, they pay him lots of money, but they should realize what they hired when the brought him on board.  It is no secret that he wants some attention.  They could easily have talked to him about this move.  But, failing to do so, puts one of the league's star players into a funk.  And puts the team's success into jeopardy.  Yes, he is flakey, but he sure can take the rock to the hole. 

 

Or how about he doesn't act like a flaky, passive-aggressive, petulant child and shows up to do the job for which he is paid more than 99.99% of the people in the world?  The blame for this does not lie with the management, and making excuses for or trying to shift the blame away from Kyrie's capricious entitlement is not helpful.

[Growsonwalls]

Ok I think here's Kyrie's problem. He has the eccentricities of a Dennis Rodman but not the personal flamboyance. I think people always treated Dennis Rodman as "weird" because he presented as "weird." All the piercings and the weird dresses and the different hair colors. Even MJ seemed to chuckle and shrug at his antics. 

Kyrie has a sweet baby face. He wears the universal NBA off-court uniform of some sort of sweatshirt/jeans combo. His social media is a fairly innocuous tribute to his family and his charities. He's not a niche player the way Dennis was -- he's that ubiquitous short (by NBA standards) point guard with great ball-handling skills. (He's amazing in what he does, but the NBA right now has a bunch of players with very similar skill sets.) So because he looks so normal, people expect him to be normal.

Idk if that makes sense, but I feel like Dennis Rodman got away with weird because people expected it.  

Edited January 20, 2021 by Growsonwalls

[emma675]

18 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

Or how about he doesn't act like a flaky, passive-aggressive, petulant child and shows up to do the job for which he is paid more than 99.99% of the people in the world?  The blame for this does not lie with the management, and making excuses for or trying to shift the blame away from Kyrie's capricious entitlement is not helpful.

This. I couldn't have said it better. Yes, it's management's and the coach's jobs to guide him, but it's a two way street. Kyrie is a grown adult with a job and responsibilities, not a child who has to be lead around and shown the exact way all the time. Sure, he's an amazing player but there are tons of those and tons who act like grown ups. I put the blame solely on Kyrie and his erratic behavior. I'd be pissed if I were one of his teammates.

Edited January 20, 2021 by emma675d

[isalicat]

I hope its okay to post this here: (Go Warriors!)

 

[AimingforYoko]

Staying on the Warriors: TIL Steph Curry's actual first name is "Wardell".

[emmawoodhouse]

I thought that was old news. He was named after Dell. 

[xaxat]

And speaking of Dell,

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by xaxat

[emmawoodhouse]

Alexa knows it's Stef-en! 😂

Edited January 22, 2021 by emmawoodhouse

[AimingforYoko]

Yeah, this should go well.

[Growsonwalls]

37 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

Yeah, this should go well.

I'm kind of sick of the TNT crew tbh. Shaq especially seems to get hate boners for people and is incredibly rude and dismissive. He was so rude to Donovan Mitchell.

[Magog]

14 hours ago, Growsonwalls said:

I'm kind of sick of the TNT crew tbh. Shaq especially seems to get hate boners for people and is incredibly rude and dismissive. He was so rude to Donovan Mitchell.

Its just Shaq expecting better from Donovan Mitchell. He wants Donovan Mitchell to take that next step in trying to lead the Jazz to be championship contenders. At this current rate, the Jazz would be their usual first round & out in the Playoffs.

Its still way more entertaining than watching ESPN's NBA pregame & postgame stuff. Very rarely do I ever get bored watching the NBA on TNT like I do watching the NBA on ESPN. 

They also don't cheerleading & out right root for certain players (Stephen Curry & (sometimes) LeBron) or teams (Lakers, Warriors, Celtics, Heat) like ESPN does all the time.

BTW, last night Stephen Curry passed Reggie Miller in the all time 3 pointers made list. I don't know who is first in that list, but its probably a matter of time before Stephen Curry pass him. I'm sure that when that day comes, ESPN will be airing the game & showing their usual allegiance to him & those Warriors.

[Danny Franks]

22 hours ago, Magog said:

Its just Shaq expecting better from Donovan Mitchell. He wants Donovan Mitchell to take that next step in trying to lead the Jazz to be championship contenders. At this current rate, the Jazz would be their usual first round & out in the Playoffs.

I'm not sure what Donovan Mitchell on his own is supposed to do about that. Other than Mitchell and the original Covidiot, Gobert, that team just isn't as talented as other teams in the West. They're never going to win a series against the Lakers, Clippers or Blazers, and probably not the Nuggets either.

Ex-superstars like Shaq, who like to claim all the credit for the achievements of their teams, seem to have very unrealistic demands of individuals in what is a team sport.

There have been barely a handful of players in league history who could take a team on their back for an entire season and lead them to a Championship. In the modern era I can really only think of Jordan and LeBron.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Danny Franks

[Popples]

2 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

There have been barely a handful of players in league history who could take a team on their back for an entire season and lead them to a Championship. In the modern era I can really only think of Jordan and LeBron.

Jordan had Pippen, he never won anything without him; he even admitted that he needed Scottie during "The Last Dance". Shaq is conveniently forgetting he had Kobe and Dwyane Wade. When Shaq was the main guy in Orlando, they didn't win jack. I had to take Inside the NBA permanently off my DVR because Shaq and Charles have become painfully awful.

[Growsonwalls]

6 minutes ago, Popples said:

Jordan had Pippen, he never won anything without him; he even admitted that he needed Scottie during "The Last Dance". Shaq is conveniently forgetting he had Kobe and Dwyane Wade. When Shaq was the main guy in Orlando, they didn't win jack. I had to take Inside the NBA permanently off my DVR because Shaq and Charles have become painfully awful.

Also Lebron had Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen in Miami, Kyrie Irving in Cleveland, and Anthony Davis in LA. 

The ONLY player I think sort of dragged an entire team to the finals was the 2009/2010 Lakers, where Kobe Bryant dragged a motley crue to the ring.

[DoctorAtomic]

On 1/24/2021 at 8:09 AM, Magog said:

BTW, last night Stephen Curry passed Reggie Miller in the all time 3 pointers made list.

My guess was Ray Allen, and I just looked it up and it's him. 

 

[lasu]

THIRTY PAGES!  I just ready 30 pages about pro basketball, which I don't even like!  I couldn't have even told you if NBA was currently in season or not, lol.  All this because Primetimer (A TV WEBSITE) didn't put a TV Show in the TV Show section!  So I went back and read everything from when The Last Dance was current, and then the 30 following pages, all to tell you a story.  These are my thoughts:

A) Chris Paul is a nice guy now?  Dammit.  I've hated him since he played for WFU and punched the star NCSU player in the groin during the last game of the regular season.  I suppose I can let it go now, lol.

B) TJ Warren is doing well?  I'm glad to hear it.

C) I am not a pro basketball fan, as earlier stated.  BUT, I am in the heart of Tobacco Road which is all about that ACC basketball. I'm even a DIRECT result of my parents celebrating NCSU's 1974 NCAA win (though I may start telling people it was the '83 championship, lol). It just never translated to follow our players into the NBA.  I'm too young by just a smidge to really remember MJ's rise to popularity, but I grew up with the UNC/NCSU rivalry was at its height - it's hard to believe now, but back then, Duke was a complete non-factor, absolutely no one was a Duke fan, only State/Carolina.  

So, one day I'm sitting in study hall, and this black couple walks by, followed by half of my damn middle school, and basically every boy in my class gets up and walks out.  It was bizarre, but I'll be damned if everyone else is going to get up and randomly walk out of class and I'm just going to sit at my desk like a chump.  Turns out? It's Michael Jordan!  He was either dating or friends with our gym teacher's daughter and they came to visit her.  I really didn't know who he was at the time, but he was nice and signed autographs for all of us.  This story has been one of my go-to stories my entire damn life.  But again, I didn't really follow him - I could have told you he played for the Bulls, he played baseball, he was bad on the Wizards, and his dad was killed.  That's it.  Definitely not how many titles or what years or anything like that.

Well, I'm watching The Last Dance, and I realize...wait.  MJ went pro when??  This doesn't make sense - he came to my school AFTER this, but that couldn't have happened if he was in Chicago!!  I'm just sitting watching this, and I'm like MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE.  What is this memory of meeting Michael Jordan that obviously didn't actually happen?  I'm trying to think of anyone from my middle school I'm connected to on social media (I moved back to Raleigh soon after this) who might know, because I'm just flabbergasted and honestly embarrassed at how many times I've told this lie of when Michael Jordan Walked Through My Middle School.  But what can you do?  

I keep watching - and then the sun peeked from behind the clouds, MICHAEL JORDAN WAS INJURED AND WENT BACK TO CAROLINA, and the dates are perfect for when he came to my middle school!  It did happen!  I did a victory lap around my living room! The relief was palpable, I was not a crazy person - at least on this issue.  Michael Jordan once came to my middle school, and we all followed him down the halls like he was the Pied Piper.  Which, now knowing his ego, must have been bliss for him, watching each classroom he walked by empty out to follow his wake.  I didn't really know what he'd been up to since retiring, but I had no idea he's just been nursing grudges and tequila this whole time.  Super sad.  But I'm happy, because I'm not a crazy person.

 

[Growsonwalls]

A routine physical for Carl Levert after being traded showed that he has renal cell carcinoma. He underwent surgery today. How awful. Prayers for a full recovery.

[emma675]

Sounds like Caris LeVert is going to make a full recovery and the Pacers have promised to stick with him: ESPN story

[Growsonwalls]

NBA analyst Sekou Smith died of covid 😞