Ask me anything about basketball

Well, the NBA. I know a lot.

What are the black lines on a Basketball called?

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How many times has Michael Jordan bounced the ball on the floor?

what will DeMarcus Cousins' stat-line be this year, per game ?

FG%, FT%, Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, Turnovers

0

When your arm can stretch like that, why would you ever need to?

Boogie's an interesting one. Clearly incredibly talented, and - while Mike Malone has shown promise as a coach - he hasn't shown that he can develop players any better than anyone else has with the Kings. I'm a little worried about Stauskas, but I do think he'll be less susceptible to the mental lapses that plagued Maclemore.

Despite IT being a pretty solid point, Cousins didn't rely too much on his passing to get buckets. Collison's definitely an underwhelming starter starter, but Boogie's playstyle + natural progression as a player I think might offset that.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict Stauskas will end up a 2nd team all-rook. His spacing will hopefully open the floor up for him a bit and ease the transition from IT to Darren, so I'm guessing we'll see around 24 ppg / 12.5 rpg from Cousins. I think his turnover number will stay at around 4. He's gonna get obliterated on defense though; he still has no one to help him out and his lateral movement's not gonna magically get better.

like the write-up, i'd be happy with that

Nerlens Noel, same question

There's nothing to really go off of here, so it's tough to say. I'm pretty high on him, but I think he did come out of last year's draft red flagged medically + recent big man have been so injury prone it's tough to really go out on a limb for him and say he'll succeed. If he does make it I'd say (best case scenario) I think he projects as a rich man's Tyson Chandler which, yeah, is pretty ****in great. So you've potentially got -

A poor man's Hakeem (and a prospect - had he been healthy - just behind Lebron, Oden, Davis, and Durant as best of this century.)
A rich man's Chandler
A point forward Chandler Parsons

MCW

If they can land Mudiay, Jesus Christ.

Predictions for the year

1.cavs - 61
2.bulls - 53
3.hornets - 52
4.toronto - 45
5.washington - 44
6.miami - 43
7.atlanta - 39
8.brooklyn - 37
9.new york - 33
10.milwaukee - 30
11.indiana - 25
12.orlando - 23
13.detroit - 23
14.philly - 20
15.boston - 18

cavs over brooklyn in 4
bulls over atlanta in 5
miami over hornets in 6
washington over toronto in 7

cavs over washington in 5
bulls over miami in 7

cavs over bulls in 6

1.spurs - 60
2.clippers - 59
3.okc - 57
4.warriors - 56
5.dallas - 56
6.houston - 52
7.portland - 50
8.memphis - 49
9.new orleans - 45
10.phoenix - 42
11.denver - 40
12.minnesota - 25
13.sacramento - 25
14.utah - 22
15.lakers - 16

spurs over memphis in 7
clippers over portland in 5
okc over houston in 4
warriors over dallas in 7

warriors over spurs in 7
clippers over okc in 7

clippers over warriors in 6

Cavs over Clippers in 6

Finals MVP - Lebron
MVP - Lebron
MIP - Kemba Walker
Sixth Man - Pau Gasol
Rookie of the year - Jabari
COY - Platt

1st team all league
steph curry
chris paul
kevin durant
lebron
anthony davis

2nd team all league
kyrie
westbrook
aldridge
blake
al jefferson

3rd team all league
kemba
harden
melo
kawhi
joakim noah

1st all rookie team
noel
jabari
wiggins
jusuf nurkic
mcbuckets

2nd team all rookie
mcgary
napier
smart
payne
cleanthony early or stauskas

Steven Adams is also gonna have a breakout season.

so, rookie year for Noel,

14.0 PTS 8.0 REB 2.0 BLK
.500 FG % .600 FT%

worse? better?

what are your thoughts on Elfrid Payton?

i see he didn't make your 1st or 2nd All-Rookie team

I'd definitely bet under on fg%. He's not a guy who can really create for himself and he's going to be forced to. That's why MCW teetered around 39/40% through last year... he's a first year point guard who struggles with his jump shot and he's surrounded by guys who can't help him. And really, the only two other guys who had any business in this league were traded away over the summer so it'll probably be even tougher. Still, no NBA team will dip below 70 or so ppg, and they've gotta get those stats somewhere. I do think Sims is underrated and will come out as a solid (probably back-up for a good team) center. On an average team, I'd peg Noel for 7 or 8 points a game, but who knows. Wouldn't doubt he reaches the blocks number.

I have worries about how Noel will do rebounding at the next level. He's put on some size, but his shoulders are so small and his frame is still so slight, I don't know if he'll be able to bang around with these guys. He should be able to hit 60% of his free throws though.

You know, I actually like him quite a bit, but he's not a shooter, and it usually takes some time for slashers to adjust to NBA level play. He's not gonna have any space to move though. Who's spreading the floor out for him? He and Oladipo will be terrifying defensively, but I'm not sure they're great together on the other side of the floor. I also think that Orlando's put a bit of a cap on how good they can be by drafting for fit. Aaron Gordon may well be a good player, but I don't think he'll ever be an allstar. He's a very good complementary piece... but that means you're relying on Vuc to develop into your scorer down low... which is fine and would be one of the better big man tandems in the league, but then who's your star? Is there an all-star on this team? Are they building a team designed to win 38-42 games 2 years from now? I think so.

you know your stuff, definitely better than me, might hit this thread back up tomorrow. off to bed for now

thanks shaq, err, mlaturno

Yeah, I used to have an NBA podcast and ****, been following it really closely for a while now.

Take care man

Have you read The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons?

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--Jamie R.

Bill Simmons is the ****in' man. He may overrely on "truthiness" a bit, but that's a large part about what makes him (and sports in general) so fun. The guy's an unbelievably charismatic writer and (often much) more insightful than his critics give him credit for. He's one of the very few unequivocally good guys in sports journalism.

Bill and Jalen>>>>>>

FINALLY someone who appreciates Bill Simmons and how incredible he is at what he does! I was rather impressed by how well written and consistently interesting this book was. He seemed to transition his writing style from Journalist to Author flawlessly! I feel like people hate on him because it is easy to hate someone who is so opinionated, stubborn, argumentative, and cocky. Basically, a fan first, everything else second (which I think people actually secretly appreciate, because it preserves everything we love about sports) I don't always agree with him either, but I SO appreciate that he is more interested in satisfying his passion than satisfying an audience.

You like Zache Lowe?