Suns fan state of grieving: This morning, for the first time, I started looking at mock drafts.

I interpreted that as Cousins thinking, in the immortal words of Ron Burgandy, "I immediately regret this decision."


I thought he was doing the ol' "If he doesn't fall down, it isn't a foul" thing.

from another thread - loads of college basketball stat scans have been added to bb-ref.
prompted by the lofton thread, i looked at a pair of senior power forwards: dave winfield, who walked on to the minnesota club (10.5 pts, 6.1 reb, as a lunch pail guy) and tony clark (11.6 pts, 4.6 reb - kind of a disappointing stretch four) for san diego st.

Clark was a Lute Olsen recruit at Arizona, but left after playing garbage time in 5 games his freshman year.

I'd say Bennett deserves every bit of vitriol Seattle fans want to throw at him, with Stern close behind. That being said, if Stern is going to allow Seattle to "steal" the Kings from Sacramento, a podunk city/town that nonetheless supported the hell out of their mostly horrible team for 20 years, just to make up for the fact that he allowed one of his best friends to steal the Sonics from Seattle in the first place then he's doubly a dick.

Stern is a dick, but part of his job is to make sure that all members of his league are in the best situation for them possible. Moving from Sacramento to Seattle is a good move regardless of the reason.

And on that note, moving from Seattle to OK city is still a bad decision no matter the reason.

But really though, if there's a city that the Kings should have moved to, it probably should have been San Francisco. The Warriors belong to Oakland, not San Francisco. Everyone in SF is just bandwagoning. :)

Unfortunately Giants management disagrees with you on that as they now own the city according to them.

Suns fan state of grieving: This morning, for the first time, I started looking at mock drafts.

I started earlier in the week. Have you checked out ESPN's Hollinger College PER?

I started earlier in the week. Have you checked out ESPN's Hollinger College PER?

PER for college players is also available at http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb

Following up on my case for Sullinger upthread: He has 14 points, 8 rebounds (4 offensive) and an assist in 16 first-half minutes so far against Houston. FWIW (maybe not much), he leads the Celtics in unadjusted +/- on the season (Garnett is second).

Sullinger is having a monster first half against Houston.

So the bulls own the Knicls

I want the Knicks in the playoffs.

Ha, and I was just in my head trying to figure out the likelihood of the Knicks and Bulls matching up. I know the Bulls are a good team, but they have ##### slapped the Knicks two games in a row at the Garden. Right now the Bulls are the 5 seed; but t hey could beat Indy out for the division and this could be a second round possibility.

They will look better with Felton back and healthy, but then again, I'm pretty sure the Bulls have a PG coming back as well...

Somebody tell Tirico he's got the wrong notes. Twice now he's said the Knicks beat the Bulls this year.

Durant's got 40 with 4 minutes to go in the third. He looks determined to crush the Lakers, to see them driven before him, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

This Lakers D is atrocious.

Durant's got 40 with 4 minutes to go in the third. He looks determined to crush the Lakers, to see them driven before him, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

And the Suns' prospects of a second lottery pick rise...

Kevin Durant is sick.

the sixers have lost their last 5, and they are 5-16 since december 1.


considering that they are 5 games back of the 8 seed in the loss column, and also that they lose their first round pick if they make the playoffs, i'd say it's getting to be around tanking time.

Jack leaves Laker game early. Can't handle the truth: Lakers suck right now.

/sadface

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/53459/playoffs-might-be-a-long-shot-for-the-lakers

The Lakers have had a pace of 100 or more possessions in each of their past four games -– all losses, of course. The Lakers now have a 7-16 record this season in games with a pace of at least 96 possessions, but they’re 8-5 when the pace is 95 or slower.

Some really, really odd results in tonight's games. Bulls get crushed at home, Houston loses to Philly, Washington beats Atlanta, Orlando beats the Clippers.

To be fair, the Lakers have had a really tough schedule during their losing streak.

BTW:

Fernando Tatís @FernandoTatis17
hey garnett your wife smell worse then a mcrib

"I told Dirk we're not going to trade him. He was happy. I think," Cuban said, laughing. "I wanted to make it clear to him. I said, 'We're in this through thick and thin,' and so there's no way I would trade him, no matter what."

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/8839464/mark-cuban-says-dallas-mavericks-trade-dirk-nowitzki

The Warriors belong to Oakland, not San Francisco. Everyone in SF is just bandwagoning. :)

This is very much true. The Warriors are entirely an East Bay team. I was very surprised to hear they were moving to SF as they have zero presence there and essentially literally zero fanbase. I would guess a large portion of SF isn't even aware the Warriors exist. Of course if the Kings moved there they would immediately sign a huge TV deal and become the toast of the town provided they won a few games.

Along the lines of the SF move, there's this article (probably posted before). For those not familiar with the city, Pier 32 is much closer to downtown than the Pier 50 site the Giants are pushing. Everyone traveling there would have to drive because it's not close to BART or Muni (Pier 32 is), which makes the Giants's proclaimed primary concern (traffic) doubly ridiculous, and being pushed out of the downtown area would also reduce the team to secondary status (clearly this is not an outcome that would disappoint the Giants). Geographically it's also in a much worse area in terms of restaurants and bars and the like and doesn't have the proximity to downtown/transportation or the layout for those kinds are places to spring up around the stadium as they did with Pac Bell. Basically the Giants, despite being gifted huge sums of land and allowed to do pretty much whatever they want with it, don't feel anyone else should be allowed the same bounty.

Larry Drew after the Hawks scored 83 points and lost to the Wizards:

"That is just something that you can’t do on the road. I told the guys if we launch 24 3’s we won’t win another road game."

Two of those 24 3PTA were Ivan Johnson attempts at the end of the first and third quarters. So, 22 real attempts from a team that averages over 23 3PTA per game and ranks 6th in the league in 3PTFG%.

In other jump shot news, the Hawks took 20 long, two-point jumpers in the first half.

My point being, maybe we also need a box score column for the least efficient shot in basketball to help coaches avoid saying dumb things right after games.

(makes note to send buddy some kind of gift basket)

article on two of manute bol's kids.

This is nicely done.

I was very surprised to hear they were moving to SF as they have zero presence there and essentially literally zero fanbase. I would guess a large portion of SF isn't even aware the Warriors exist.

I don't understand how you came to this conclusion. Sure, they are definitely a distant third after the Giants and Niners, but when I go to any number of local dives the Warriors are absolutely always on the TV, and there are always people watching (and these are definitely not sports bars). The game on Friday against Portland seemingly half of the bar was agonizing over the second half collapse. I see the same amount of support in Oakland...it's not like you head over to Oakland and suddenly everyone you see is in Warriors gear talking about the Run TMC days.

Are Nicholson and Sandler buddies? It looked like Jack invited him to the game.

I don't understand how you came to this conclusion. Sure, they are definitely a distant third after the Giants and Niners, but when I go to any number of local dives the Warriors are absolutely always on the TV, and there are always people watching (and these are definitely not sports bars).

Well then this I'm glad to hear. I haven't seen a bunch of Warriors fanship in San Francisco (granted I don't live in San Francisco anymore, but when I'm there it doesn't seem to have changed THAT much) but if there is, great. I think we can all agree though that the very great majority of Warriors fanship exists in the East Bay - because the Warriors are there of course, but regardless. And I do understand obviously why the Warriors would want to move to SF - for the same reason the A's want to move to San Jose, because they'll gain much greater access to corporate sponsorship and draw from a much more affluent fanbase. The benefit of an SF move as compared to a San Jose one, especially if they get that Pier 30-32 spot near BART, would at least be that they would still be accessible to the East Bay so all the po' folk could still attend games. Until they get priced out.

I think I'm just a little sad that Oakland, while I grew up having the A's, Warriors, and then the Raiders after they returned, could very conceivably within the next 5 years have none of those teams. A small non-wealthy city like Oakland was lucky to have all those teams in the first place, but still.

I definitely agree with that. The Warriors moving to SF will bring in an entirely different type of "fan," just like the Giants moving from Candlestick to AT&T did. It will probably be the same people...the ones that spend 3/4 of the game taking pictures of themselves at the game and putting them on their Facebook account and then obsessively checking to see if anyone has commented on them.

Are Nicholson and Sandler buddies?

Nicholson co-starred in the Sandler movie Anger Management (no, seriously).

I'll have to keep an eye on Bol Bol, great name, sounds like a great prospect.

This is amazing.

---

Bulls get crushed at home

Bulls are now only 10-10 at home after the Suns curbstomped them Saturday. They are maddeningly inconsistent, and the only way to describe it is the old cliche about playing to the level of their competition. Inconsistency is a very unsettling thing for a Thibs team.

I definitely agree with that. The Warriors moving to SF will bring in an entirely different type of "fan," just like the Giants moving from Candlestick to AT&T did. It will probably be the same people...the ones that spend 3/4 of the game taking pictures of themselves at the game and putting them on their Facebook account and then obsessively checking to see if anyone has commented on them.

The East Bay has been a GREAT home for the NBA but, like Seattle, the NBA isn't sentimental. That's what the East Bay gets for supporting one of America's worst run teams of the last 30 years so well...

Question for those who saw a lot of him, was Magic a good shooter? If he had grown up in the 3 point era, who would you (reasonably) compare him to as far as shooting prowess?

Unrelated question, when comparing Magic and Bird historically, how do you handle back problems vs. unprotected sex problems?

[389] raises a point I touched on before -- I wonder how many careers would have been different had the 3-point shot been available/valued earlier on.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/21554730/video-steve-novak-clowns-nate-robinson-calling-him-little-nathan

I don't think this was posted; I thought it was awesome. Would have been more awesome if the Knicks hadn't gotten killed in the game it happened, but still.

Speaking of Knicks soundbites...apparently James Dolan hired a crew with parabolic mics to record every word Melo said on the court because...Knicks?

EDIT: Oh, and Joe C, I meant to say thanks earlier but I forgot. No date set yet, we're still figuring that out.

James Dolan was also at the Golden Globes last night, sitting next to Harvey Weinstein at Quentin Tarantino's table.

I don't think this was posted; I thought it was awesome. Would have been more awesome if the Knicks hadn't gotten killed in the game it happened, but still.

Nate's annoying, but I don't see how that's a clowning. They got their ass kicked at home and his celebration move got mocked. Speaking of:

Nick Friedell ?@NickFriedell
Nate Robinson drains a 3 and continues doing the discount double check. Somewhere Steve Novak shakes his head in disgust.

Anywho, Bulls are beating the Hawks 48-20 (yes, 20) at halftime right now. Some various awfulness from this game:

K.C Johnson ?@KCJHoop
Remember: I get paid to watch this so you don't have to. This Bulls-Hawks game currently is setting back basketball.

Nick Friedell ?@NickFriedell
A barnburner at the UC so far. RT @McGrawDHBulls Teams are a combined 1-for-16 from the field in 2ndQ. Bulls leads quarter scoring 2-0.

K.C Johnson ?@KCJHoop
Hawks score first points of 2nd quarter at 5:17 mark, giving them 4 points in previous 13:20.

K.C Johnson ?@KCJHoop
Bulls set franchise record for fewest points allowed in half with 20. Old record was 22 by Knicks in 1999. Hawks also shoot record low 20.5%

Nick Friedell ?@NickFriedell
Second quarter scoring here in Chicago: Bulls -- 22-Hawks -- 5.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Hawks have quit on their coach and he's getting fired tomorrow. I doubt that is the case, so I have no idea how it can be this bad for Atlanta.

What's the shot clock era record for fewest points in a game, because Atlanta has 28 now with 5:45 left in the third.

What's the shot clock era record for fewest points in a game, because Atlanta has 28 now with 5:45 left in the third.

Bulls against Miami in 1998-99: 49.

The Bulls went 18-77 from the field that game and compounded this with 13-24 from the line. It's especially impressive to score only 49 points when you force 21 TOs.

The immortal Kornel David led the Bulls with 13 points.

Last time Atlanta scored that many in the first half, they eeked out a victory. Of course, that was the Falcons yesterday...
[takes rat poison]

Bulls against Miami in 1998-99: 49.

Only in that awful lockout season could a team score 82 points and win by 33.

Ummm, we're not far from that tonight (90-51, 1:34 left)

Tim Floyd Bulls were the worst. Flip you, Tim.