I had heard that Toumani Camara of Portland is a good defensive player but I hadn't seen him play. So then I watched a few minutes of the Denver Portland game and he seemed merely OK until Aaron Gordon came racing in on a full speed fast break to thunder dunk in and Camara stepped in to take a charge. He was a bit late, but sometimes being a good defender is quick thinking and guts. He got physically crushed and got called for a foul, but it's not hard to see that he really wants the other guys not to score. Podz and Draymond esque
Looks like we’re not the only ones, as Bill Simmons notes:
"Golden State is the one that I really vacillated on whether they're an actual contender or a possible contender and here's why I made them a possible contender. I think there's a real chance that Adam Silver hates Golden State because I can't think of any other explanation when I look at the schedule. Seventeen days, they have ten games and they're all basically in different locations. That's a f—k you from the NBA schedulers,"said Simmons.
Yikes, that anxious statement by Malik Beasley’s lawyer, insisting that Beasley's having avoided indictment must not be interpreted as an indication that he cut a deal. Because, mafia.
The Adam Silver era got off to a good start, but man the last five-ish years have been rough. Leaving aside smaller gripes such as the CBA, we’ve had:
- a player allegedly pointing a gun at an opposing team bus, which a league investigation failed to corroborate*;
- a massive, ongoing salary-cap circumvention scandal involving one of the league’s best players;
- a disastrously fan-unfriendly TV package and the “highlight league” comments;
- and now this gambling stuff, which the league has clearly avoided facing while it promotes betting sites and courts Las Vegas, and which now appears to have opened the door to at least a degree of enmeshment between the NBA and the mob, with credible fears about the physical safety of players.
Presumably Silver has a ton of job security, just by virtue of the skyrocketing franchise valuations. But are we sure he deserves it at this point?
*and, we now have a window into the efficacy of these league investigations, by way of the Rozier stuff
There are a couple points that need to be made in the league's defense on the gambling/conspiracy allegations, particularly around the "efficacy" critique:
One, the NBA likely does not have nor are they likely allowed to use the types of extremely powerful and sophisticated tools available to federal investigators (court-backed subpoenas/warrants, phone wiretaps, interception of electronic comms, confidential informants with access to witness protection programs, etc.) so they may not have been able to get as far as the feds have.
Two, the NBA might have gotten a certain ways into their investigation anyhow, and either determined it was criminal so they needed to turn it over to the feds, or else the the feds came and said "this is our jurisdiction now, and you need to shut up about it else it could risk compromising our criminal investigation."
The latter would explain why the league seemingly let certain things slide. If they had made the wrong kind of noise about this at the wrong time, it could have tipped off the perps.
Of course, I grant that the league is first and foremost a very public multi-billion dollar global business venture, so they certainly have motivations which go beyond just being good citizens.
Not gonna argue about your other criticisms since I tend to agree, but I think a criminal mob investigation is a different type of beast compared to the Clippers situation, for example. Ballmer and Kawhi's parties may have broken sacrosanct NBA rules, but I don't know if they committed any crimes in doing so.
[Ja Morant] when asked what went wrong and why he looked to have low energy tonight: “Go ask the coaching staff… they had a whole spiel. Go ask the coaching staff why.” When asked what could’ve been done differently: “According to them, probably don’t play me… it’s cool. It’s cool bro.”
Wow, that looks like one disgruntled player. He had 8 points in 30 minutes against the Lakers yesterday and they lost. Didn’t watch the game, so I don’t know how he played.
I think we need to start calling Victor, The Necromancer in honour of Sauron, The Lord of the Rims. Ben highlighting his 360* vision only adds to the image of The Eye of Barad-dûr. It's only a question of health and longevity before he gains full power and completely destroys the League for eons to come.
Our only hope resides with a small hobbit-like creature who has collected a few magical Rings of his own along the way...
Edit: Damn, the creators of Game of Zones should totally do a new 'Rims of Power' series. Has to be better than what I've heard Amazon has put out...
AMCs just got stomped at home by the horks. They ain't right letting that happen. Yep, the segababa fucks the AMCs instead of dubs tomorrow, but at least the AMCs didn't have to travel.
Boo scumpires that cost them a 9 inning win in game 3 instead turning it into an 18 inning random ending game. Boo MLB brass for prohibiting challenge and review on home plate scumpire fuckups.
I think OKC and the Spurs have probably both moved on from those grudges. OKC hoisted the Larry, which they didn't do with KD, and it's all about defending the title now. KD has cycled through the Dubs, Nets, Suns, and the Rockets since then. And I doubt the Spurs are looking in the rear-view mirror either, not that they've forgotten Zaza but it's ancient history, and they're in Wemby World now.
A PREVIOUS EDIT OF THIS ARTICLE USED A FORMER PLAYERS NAME WHO I CHERISH DEARLY. WIGGINS ISLAND LIVES IN MY HEART FOREVER
ok folks - thanks for your patience (and ongoing support, thanks for reading/subscribing!)
PREVIEW IS NOW UP
Sheer cruelty. May the basketball Gods and Goddesses be with them.
I had heard that Toumani Camara of Portland is a good defensive player but I hadn't seen him play. So then I watched a few minutes of the Denver Portland game and he seemed merely OK until Aaron Gordon came racing in on a full speed fast break to thunder dunk in and Camara stepped in to take a charge. He was a bit late, but sometimes being a good defender is quick thinking and guts. He got physically crushed and got called for a foul, but it's not hard to see that he really wants the other guys not to score. Podz and Draymond esque
Looks like we’re not the only ones, as Bill Simmons notes:
"Golden State is the one that I really vacillated on whether they're an actual contender or a possible contender and here's why I made them a possible contender. I think there's a real chance that Adam Silver hates Golden State because I can't think of any other explanation when I look at the schedule. Seventeen days, they have ten games and they're all basically in different locations. That's a f—k you from the NBA schedulers,"said Simmons.
Link: https://sports.yahoo.com/article/bill-simmons-worried-golden-state-200700364.html
An unprecedented, retroactive suspension of a teams 2nd best player in the finals didnt already confirm that?
never forget.
Yikes, that anxious statement by Malik Beasley’s lawyer, insisting that Beasley's having avoided indictment must not be interpreted as an indication that he cut a deal. Because, mafia.
The Adam Silver era got off to a good start, but man the last five-ish years have been rough. Leaving aside smaller gripes such as the CBA, we’ve had:
- a player allegedly pointing a gun at an opposing team bus, which a league investigation failed to corroborate*;
- a massive, ongoing salary-cap circumvention scandal involving one of the league’s best players;
- a disastrously fan-unfriendly TV package and the “highlight league” comments;
- and now this gambling stuff, which the league has clearly avoided facing while it promotes betting sites and courts Las Vegas, and which now appears to have opened the door to at least a degree of enmeshment between the NBA and the mob, with credible fears about the physical safety of players.
Presumably Silver has a ton of job security, just by virtue of the skyrocketing franchise valuations. But are we sure he deserves it at this point?
*and, we now have a window into the efficacy of these league investigations, by way of the Rozier stuff
There are a couple points that need to be made in the league's defense on the gambling/conspiracy allegations, particularly around the "efficacy" critique:
One, the NBA likely does not have nor are they likely allowed to use the types of extremely powerful and sophisticated tools available to federal investigators (court-backed subpoenas/warrants, phone wiretaps, interception of electronic comms, confidential informants with access to witness protection programs, etc.) so they may not have been able to get as far as the feds have.
Two, the NBA might have gotten a certain ways into their investigation anyhow, and either determined it was criminal so they needed to turn it over to the feds, or else the the feds came and said "this is our jurisdiction now, and you need to shut up about it else it could risk compromising our criminal investigation."
The latter would explain why the league seemingly let certain things slide. If they had made the wrong kind of noise about this at the wrong time, it could have tipped off the perps.
Of course, I grant that the league is first and foremost a very public multi-billion dollar global business venture, so they certainly have motivations which go beyond just being good citizens.
Not gonna argue about your other criticisms since I tend to agree, but I think a criminal mob investigation is a different type of beast compared to the Clippers situation, for example. Ballmer and Kawhi's parties may have broken sacrosanct NBA rules, but I don't know if they committed any crimes in doing so.
The NBA should hire Pablo Torre to do their investigations -he seems to figure stuff out without subpoenas, etc.
Preview will be up late morning. Happy Halloween!!
Oh oh...
r/nba
•
7h ago
AashyLarry
[MIA] Dwyane Wade
[Ja Morant] when asked what went wrong and why he looked to have low energy tonight: “Go ask the coaching staff… they had a whole spiel. Go ask the coaching staff why.” When asked what could’ve been done differently: “According to them, probably don’t play me… it’s cool. It’s cool bro.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1olgzzt/ja_morant_when_asked_what_went_wrong_and_why_he/
Wow, that looks like one disgruntled player. He had 8 points in 30 minutes against the Lakers yesterday and they lost. Didn’t watch the game, so I don’t know how he played.
He played with no effort. Blake Griffin was roasting him on the Prime Post Game Show.
I think he was upset about his minutes.
Ja seems done in Memphis and vice versa. Vivek might be salivating.
Or their coach is done.
It’s always nice to be reminded that things could be worse.
I thought we weren't allowed politics here :)
The most talented basketball player ever? Thinking Basketball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1EPSY1DT4M
I think we need to start calling Victor, The Necromancer in honour of Sauron, The Lord of the Rims. Ben highlighting his 360* vision only adds to the image of The Eye of Barad-dûr. It's only a question of health and longevity before he gains full power and completely destroys the League for eons to come.
Our only hope resides with a small hobbit-like creature who has collected a few magical Rings of his own along the way...
Edit: Damn, the creators of Game of Zones should totally do a new 'Rims of Power' series. Has to be better than what I've heard Amazon has put out...
Blazers beat the Nuggets...they might be good?
AMCs just got stomped at home by the horks. They ain't right letting that happen. Yep, the segababa fucks the AMCs instead of dubs tomorrow, but at least the AMCs didn't have to travel.
Hopefully our guys don't run into any gremlins
Well, Jeep-us.
Jeep era AMC never built a car as cool as the Pacer. Mirthmobile indeed.
Boo Canada
Boo scumpires that cost them a 9 inning win in game 3 instead turning it into an 18 inning random ending game. Boo MLB brass for prohibiting challenge and review on home plate scumpire fuckups.
Huge run by Memphis (31-9?)
But the Lakers respond with a big 2nd half.
Pacers lost. They will be officially looking for their first win vs the Warriors.
Celtics tried to hand the game to Philly, but the Sixers politely declined
I think OKC and the Spurs have probably both moved on from those grudges. OKC hoisted the Larry, which they didn't do with KD, and it's all about defending the title now. KD has cycled through the Dubs, Nets, Suns, and the Rockets since then. And I doubt the Spurs are looking in the rear-view mirror either, not that they've forgotten Zaza but it's ancient history, and they're in Wemby World now.