2013-2014 NBA Season

[thrill]

MAKE IT A BLOCK PARTY ON THE BAYOU

NERLENS NAWLINS NERLENS NAWLINS NERLENS NAWLINS!!

I'm not sure he stays in NOLA, but we'll take him.

Just traded to Philly for Jrue Holiday. Draft picks moving too

I think this trade boils down to your goals as a fan. If you want respectability, NO won. If you want rings, Philly won. Noel has upside, Holliday wasn't going to lead the sixers anywhere, he's an above average PG but he's not a special player by any means and of course Philly puts themselves in line for one of the big players coming out next year.

[MrCrowesGarden]

MAKE IT A BLOCK PARTY ON THE BAYOU

NERLENS NAWLINS NERLENS NAWLINS NERLENS NAWLINS!!

I'm not sure he stays in NOLA, but we'll take him.

Just traded to Philly for Jrue Holiday. Draft picks moving too

I think this trade boils down to your goals as a fan. If you want respectability, NO won. If you want rings, Philly won. Noel has upside, Holliday wasn't going to lead the sixers anywhere, he's an above average PG but he's not a special player by any means and of course Philly puts themselves in line for one of the big players coming out next year.

I think this is fair. Holliday isn't a special player, like you said, but it's not like they traded for a 30-year-old either. He's 23, and can become part of that nucleus (and if all works out well, a 23-year-old fringe All-Star isn't a bad player to have as your 3rd best.)

I don't blame them for pulling the trigger. Noel has a ton of upside, but at some point you just don't want to play lottery tickets anymore.

I think this team as arranged is probably fighting for one of the last 2 playoff seeds. If I'm way off base and we're dreadful, then we get a lotto ticket one more time and the pressure is really on. If we're just plain mediocre, I'm okay with missing out on Willie Cauley-Stein.

[thrill]

I think they can be a low playoff seed if Gordon stays healthy. They also desperately need to get some traction in their market. Hopefully being consistently decent will do that.

[thrill]

@KCJHoop: Noah's Inclusion In Trade Talks For LaMarcus Aldridge Is A "Non-Starter" For Bulls

Good

[MrSaigon]

@KCJHoop: Noah's Inclusion In Trade Talks For LaMarcus Aldridge Is A "Non-Starter" For Bulls

Good

He's no Tyrus Thomas, but Aldridge is damn good. But if you're the Bulls you need those two together, and if you're the Blazers you're just swapping your frontline hole with that trade. OTOH if The Bulls wanted Aldridge it would have to start with Noah, I don't see any other way to do it without other teams. Butler is appealing but not appealing enough without anyone but Noah, and Chicago's picks aren't going to be worth much.

My hope is to pick up Asek in the Howard fallout. We need crazy [expletive] like that (and more, of course) to happen to get this core in contention. We'll see what happens, but I'd rather ship out Aldridge for youth, cap and draft picks than return to perennial early playoff exits (which really seems more likely than anything else if we try to build around him--I know we're going to end up with Gortat and a 7 or 8 seed). I also wouldn't mind to be totally free of the Roy/Oden/Aldridge core that made a nice Rip City transition from tantalizingly promising to torturous. Let's let Lillard pave his own road to soul-numbing heartbreak for the 'Zers.

[MrSaigon]

So after watching/listening to the draft and reading lots of analysis this morning, I have a question: Is it impossible for any particular white player to play like any particular black player, or vice-versa? I do know a comparison is impossible to hear, even at center where so many of the guys produce pretty much the same thing.

The Blazers had two shots at 38 and 39 for Jamaal Franklin who many people had pegged as a top-20 guy and went 41. The even chose to draft and stash a guy over him. Of course lots of other teams passed as well, and Crabbe for sure and probably Withey so eventually they'd have to start eating guaranteed money to make space. But I do wonder what the story with Franklin is.

[MrSaigon]

So after watching/listening to the draft and reading lots of analysis this morning, I have a question: Is it impossible for any particular white player to play like any particular black player, or vice-versa? I do know a comparison is impossible to hear, even at center where so many of the guys produce pretty much the same thing.

[lukethedrifter]

I see erstwhile Mizzou recruit Tony Franklin went in the 2nd round. As did Oriahki.

[thrill]

So after watching/listening to the draft and reading lots of analysis this morning, I have a question: Is it impossible for any particular white player to play like any particular black player, or vice-versa? I do know a comparison is impossible to hear, even at center where so many of the guys produce pretty much the same thing.

I feel like that line was crossed when Harden got traded. In the playoffs two years ago everyone was comparing him to Ginobili. Then he went and showed that he's better than Ginobili ever was and now we need a new racial comparison pioneer.

[cardsfansince82]

I see erstwhile Mizzou recruit Tony Franklin went in the 2nd round. As did Oriahki.

And Phil Pressey did not, as I anticipated.