As promised, here is the second edition of TWIB (This Week in Basketball)!
ADAM SILVER made some rather interesting comments about the Philadelphia 76ers' "tanking" (I put that term in quotations solely for purposes of political correctness) strategy. Basketball fans are aware of Philadelphia's seemingly intent to lose over the past few years, in order to acquire higher draft picks and better prospects for the future. While it's hard to say with certainty that this plan will fail, it has many fans agitated, and eminent Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski called tanking "un-American". When FiveThirtyEight's podcast posed the matter to the Commisioner, Silver plainly replied "Am I a fan of that strategy? Let's put it this way: no." He did add, however: "But does that mean it's not acceptable under the league rules? It is," he acknowledged, "and it's partly why I had proposed to change the odds of the draft lottery." These proposed changes, it should be noted, would attempt to walk a tight-rope between discouraging tanking while still compensating the worst teams, but the proposal was not approved by enough owners. Silver also acknowledged the other side of the argument, that "if [76ers' injured center] Joel Embiid were healthy or on the floor, we may be having a very different discussion," also pointing to "bad luck" as a cause of Philly's recent turmoil. Is it just me, or does basketball always have the best commissioners? David Stern remains the gold standard across all professional sports, and his successor seems capable of filling the shoes.
KEVIN DURANT finally made a smart complaint that some people actually agree with. In advance of Monday night’s game against the Clippers, the superstar was asked if the Thunder would employ the “Hack-A” strategy, in which teams intentionally foul a poor free throw shooter, as it would be statistically preferable to have a horrendous shooter take two freebies rather than letting the team run their offense. Chief among the culprits of hacking is Clippers star C DeAndre Jordan, who is only knocking down 37% of his shots from the charity stripe. This defensive strategy has been heavily criticized by some, who find constantly watching missed free throws, instead of “real basketball” incredibly boring. However, I believe that Durant spoke for the majority on Monday when he flatly stated: “If you don’t want to get hacked, then working on your f***ing free throws.” For the record, Jordan went 2/4 from the foul line after shooting 12/32 combined for the two prior games. Clearly no hacking strategy was employed. Maybe DeAndre worked on his f**king free throws? (unlikely).
THE NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME has announced its candidates for potential 2016 induction, as they prepare to celebrate the Hall of Fame's 125th anniversary. Headlining the list is legendary Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal, a 15-time All-Star, 4-time champion, 3-time Finals MVP, while also picking up an MVP award in 2000; ex-Rockets C Yao Ming, who is Chinese, and is also an 8-time All-Star that will likely be enshrined via international means; PG/SG Allen Iverson, a 76er legend, with 11 All-Stars, 4 scoring titles, and an MVP. It would be highly surprising if any of the three, especially Shaq (who is a complete stone-cold lock), miss out on Springfield. Warriors/Heat great PG Tim Hardaway and 76er PG Maurice (Mo) Cheeks also have a shot at enshrinement.
KOBE BRYANT is sadly retiring at season's end, but not before he answers a few questions that have no good answers and are bound to be controversial no matter what he says! ESPN's Baxter Holmes ensured just that, asking the Black Mamba who, in his opinion, are the best players he has ever faced in his entire NBA career, from 1996 to 2015. Kobe replied with Michael Jordan, (obviously), LeBron James (almost just as obviously), and Kevin Durant (interesting), before rounding out his list with a pair of Rockets legends in C Hakeem Olajuwon and SG/SF Clyde Drexler. Don't get me wrong: Drexler and Olajuwon are all-time greats for sure, both top 50 all-time and Olajuwon maybe even top 10. But both were past their prime by 1996, and this only gets more curious when you consider the names that Bryant leaves off. If he wants to go with veterans from the late 1990's, he has plenty of other options: Karl Malone, John Stockton, David Robinson, and yes, even Shaq! Bryant also skipped out on some notable names from the 2000's: TIM DUNCAN (duh?), Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, etc; and even the 2010s: Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, etc, etc, etc, etc. Bryant was clear to state the obvious, however, in that it was very difficult to only choose five. And like I said, no matter what names Kobe listed, he would be receiving criticism from the media. Like perhaps even from some guy writing a "This Week in Basketball" blog post at home for his website.
ADAM SILVER made some rather interesting comments about the Philadelphia 76ers' "tanking" (I put that term in quotations solely for purposes of political correctness) strategy. Basketball fans are aware of Philadelphia's seemingly intent to lose over the past few years, in order to acquire higher draft picks and better prospects for the future. While it's hard to say with certainty that this plan will fail, it has many fans agitated, and eminent Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski called tanking "un-American". When FiveThirtyEight's podcast posed the matter to the Commisioner, Silver plainly replied "Am I a fan of that strategy? Let's put it this way: no." He did add, however: "But does that mean it's not acceptable under the league rules? It is," he acknowledged, "and it's partly why I had proposed to change the odds of the draft lottery." These proposed changes, it should be noted, would attempt to walk a tight-rope between discouraging tanking while still compensating the worst teams, but the proposal was not approved by enough owners. Silver also acknowledged the other side of the argument, that "if [76ers' injured center] Joel Embiid were healthy or on the floor, we may be having a very different discussion," also pointing to "bad luck" as a cause of Philly's recent turmoil. Is it just me, or does basketball always have the best commissioners? David Stern remains the gold standard across all professional sports, and his successor seems capable of filling the shoes.
KEVIN DURANT finally made a smart complaint that some people actually agree with. In advance of Monday night’s game against the Clippers, the superstar was asked if the Thunder would employ the “Hack-A” strategy, in which teams intentionally foul a poor free throw shooter, as it would be statistically preferable to have a horrendous shooter take two freebies rather than letting the team run their offense. Chief among the culprits of hacking is Clippers star C DeAndre Jordan, who is only knocking down 37% of his shots from the charity stripe. This defensive strategy has been heavily criticized by some, who find constantly watching missed free throws, instead of “real basketball” incredibly boring. However, I believe that Durant spoke for the majority on Monday when he flatly stated: “If you don’t want to get hacked, then working on your f***ing free throws.” For the record, Jordan went 2/4 from the foul line after shooting 12/32 combined for the two prior games. Clearly no hacking strategy was employed. Maybe DeAndre worked on his f**king free throws? (unlikely).
THE NAISMITH MEMORIAL BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME has announced its candidates for potential 2016 induction, as they prepare to celebrate the Hall of Fame's 125th anniversary. Headlining the list is legendary Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal, a 15-time All-Star, 4-time champion, 3-time Finals MVP, while also picking up an MVP award in 2000; ex-Rockets C Yao Ming, who is Chinese, and is also an 8-time All-Star that will likely be enshrined via international means; PG/SG Allen Iverson, a 76er legend, with 11 All-Stars, 4 scoring titles, and an MVP. It would be highly surprising if any of the three, especially Shaq (who is a complete stone-cold lock), miss out on Springfield. Warriors/Heat great PG Tim Hardaway and 76er PG Maurice (Mo) Cheeks also have a shot at enshrinement.
KOBE BRYANT is sadly retiring at season's end, but not before he answers a few questions that have no good answers and are bound to be controversial no matter what he says! ESPN's Baxter Holmes ensured just that, asking the Black Mamba who, in his opinion, are the best players he has ever faced in his entire NBA career, from 1996 to 2015. Kobe replied with Michael Jordan, (obviously), LeBron James (almost just as obviously), and Kevin Durant (interesting), before rounding out his list with a pair of Rockets legends in C Hakeem Olajuwon and SG/SF Clyde Drexler. Don't get me wrong: Drexler and Olajuwon are all-time greats for sure, both top 50 all-time and Olajuwon maybe even top 10. But both were past their prime by 1996, and this only gets more curious when you consider the names that Bryant leaves off. If he wants to go with veterans from the late 1990's, he has plenty of other options: Karl Malone, John Stockton, David Robinson, and yes, even Shaq! Bryant also skipped out on some notable names from the 2000's: TIM DUNCAN (duh?), Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, etc; and even the 2010s: Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, etc, etc, etc, etc. Bryant was clear to state the obvious, however, in that it was very difficult to only choose five. And like I said, no matter what names Kobe listed, he would be receiving criticism from the media. Like perhaps even from some guy writing a "This Week in Basketball" blog post at home for his website.
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