Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 10 Jan 2014 00:48

Knicks are a tough team to root for these days. Which sucks, because they have a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic fan base, who really deserve a better owner. But yeah, they're just a mess right now.
The knowledgeable and enthusiastic fan base is key for me if chosing the Knicks. My favorite twitter users are pretty much all Knicks fans. I also I don't really care if the team win or looses. As long as they do not win or loose all the time.
If you're looking to pick a new team to root for, I'd choose one which isn't great now, but has potential in the near future. For example, the Pelicans and Suns aren't great right now, but they have bright futures due to some rising stars in their system combined with good future salary/draft pick outlook.
The reason why I want to get into NBA again is me growing old and getting nostalgic. Thus I have to be able to connect the team with my experience with NBA in the late 90s. I never watched any games but I had the most Shaq trading cards in primary school (39 in case your you're wondering). I am not gonna root for some team called the Pelicans.

I also think picking a team where I actually have a chance of going to where they are from and watch a game would be a good idea. That limits the choices for sure. NY, LA, Toronto, Portland and Chicago seems to be the best choices if I use this parameter.

Good breakdown of the Bynum/Deng swap. I have previously said that I am a big fan of Deng and I think he would an asset on any team, especially a team build around a flashy player like Kyrie.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 10 Jan 2014 08:37

Asmus wrote:
I also think picking a team where I actually have a chance of going to where they are from and watch a game would be a good idea. That limits the choices for sure. NY, LA, Toronto, Portland and Chicago seems to be the best choices if I use this parameter..
NY and LA will be wicked expensive if you go to a game in person. It used to be that Clipper tickets were affordable, but not anymore. Lakers/Knicks/Nets will be expensive, and none of them will be very good for the forseeable future. Of the listed cities, I think Portland and Chicago have the sunniest short-medium term prospects, and would be most affordable. Clippers are pretty solid too, but tickets will be more expensive.
Asmus wrote: I have previously said that I am a big fan of Deng and I think he would an asset on any team, especially a team build around a flashy player like Kyrie.
I like Deng a lot too, and I think he can help the Cavs out this year and in the future. The real question though is: will Deng re-sign with the Cavs? They can offer him more money than anybody, and he's saying all the right things...but it's not a certainty yet.

Big NBA news of the day: Eric Bledsoe of the Suns is getting knee surgery and is likely out for the season. Right now the Suns would be the #7 team in the West, and a strong one too. I don't know that this injury necessarily dooms them to miss the playoffs, but I don't think it'll help either. As a Suns fan in my heart, I secretly hope this makes them go into full tank mode, so they can pick up one of the crazy good players that will be in the lottery next year (Wiggins, Parker, Randle, Smart, Embiid, etc.). We'll see.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 16 Jan 2014 00:40

Flying start for Deng as expected.

I think I am gonna go with the Knicks; being a fan is all about the heart and not about the logic and they seem to talk the most to my heart.

They are showing Hawks - Nets on Danish television today.
I would like to see that but it is in the middle of our weekly thursday session.
Footbag before everything!
(I am gonna watch Raptors - Lakers on sunday though)

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 21 Jan 2014 00:55

Watched Raptors - Lakers
It was a good close game. Seemed like Raptors was in control but somehow they still fucked it up.
Ken, can you explain the Rudy Gay trade to me? They seemed to miss him in this game.

Watched Clippers - Pistons
Very impressed with the CLIPPERS. They are starting to look like an actual team and not just Harlem Globetrotters on XANAX. Actually defending and playing with some brains. Good coach and DeAndre is a beast. I can see them going to the finals with Chris Paul back.

Watched Knicks - Nets
Knicks plays so sloow. And when they finally get a steal or a defensive rebound they missed open shots like every time. That was hella frustrating to look at. Like this frustrating to look at:
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Seems like Knicks are loosing their games not that their opponents win them.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 21 Jan 2014 09:22

Asmus wrote: Ken, can you explain the Rudy Gay trade to me? They seemed to miss him in this game.
Gay is a weird one. In a nutshell, Rudy Gay is a good player, that Memphis way overpaid a few years ago. As such, his contract is the size of a superstar, but he isn't a superstar. When Mempis traded him, they immediately got better. When the Raptors traded him, they also immediately got better. The general thinking is that Gay is productive and helpful when he's your #2 or #3 option. When he's asked to be your #1 option, his efficiency goes way down. Toronto traded him for a few reasons. The main one was to get out from under his contract, and that alone was reason to do the trade. But beyond that, they recognized that Derozan basically does the same stuff as Gay did, only cheaper and slightly more efficiently. By trading Gay, they removed the logjam at small forward, helped themselves capwise, and also got role players in positions they needed help at.

Asmus wrote: Very impressed with the CLIPPERS. They are starting to look like an actual team and not just Harlem Globetrotters on XANAX. Actually defending and playing with some brains. Good coach and DeAndre is a beast. I can see them going to the finals with Chris Paul back.
The Clippers frustrate me. They have the best PG in the game, one of the best coaches in the game, and some good shooters. But this offseason they overloaded on shooters, which didn't make sense to me. Jordan is a good defender, but in the playoffs he's a liability because he cannot hit freethrows. Up until the final 2 minutes of the game, opposing teams can just hack him and kill the Clips offense that way. The most promising thing about the Clips is that Blake has been a monster over the past month. If he can sustain this, I see the Clips making a push to the Western Finals. Do I see them beating the Spurs/Thunder/Blazers? No. With their current roster, I think their ceiling is making the Western Finals and losing. But I wouldn't be surprised if they get knocked out in the second round either.
Asmus wrote:Seems like Knicks are losing their games not that their opponents win them.
That's a very interesting perspective. I like that. I feel bad for Knicks fans...the East is terrible, and the Knicks are still out of the playoff picture. That normally would be a good thing, considering how good the 2014 draft looks, but the Knicks don't even have a pick this year since they traded it to get Melo. Ouch.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 22 Jan 2014 00:27

Jordan is a good defender, but in the playoffs he's a liability because he cannot hit freethrows. Up until the final 2 minutes of the game, opposing teams can just hack him and kill the Clips offense that way.
Even though I played basket as a youngin and have been following the NBA on and off there are still things I don't understand and this is one of them. How hard can it fucking be? They have coaches just for this goddammit!

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 22 Jan 2014 07:16

The most common explanations for why big players are bad at free throws are:

:arrow: If you're big, and always have been big, your coaches have probably parked you by the basket your whole life and taught you to make layups/dunks/baby hooks. If you spend 90% of your time on the court within 3 feet of the basket, you don't develop the shooting touch for free throws.
:arrow: When you have massively huge hands, its harder to get good spin on a ball as it leaves them. Try shooting free throws with a tennis ball sometime.

I'm a bit skeptical of both of these explanations really. For the first, its not like you can't develop an inside game and also shoot free throws. That's just a question of dedicating time to it. The second is possible, but I wouldn't know. You could also point to all the big players with big hands who DID learn to shoot free throws pretty well, and that hurts that theory.

Completely unrelated note: Kevin Durant is on fire lately. Last week I saw him drop 54 on the Warriors, and last night he dropped 46, including several ridiculous 3s. Dude's range is unbelievable. He's averaging around 40 over his last 7 games. LeBron is still the best player in the game, but Durant has been straight ballin lately, and he's also carrying his team without Westbrook. I wouldn't be surprised if he steals the MVP this year.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 26 Jan 2014 04:07

Speaking about being on fire. My man Melo dropped 62 the other night. Knicks franchise record.
Image

Looking forward to watch Miami Heat - San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks - L.A. Lakers later today.

(I promise my next post will not have a pic of Melo in it)

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 26 Jan 2014 07:52

Yeah, 62 is nuts. I wasn't going to watch the Laker-Knick game today, but now I'm tempted to. If Melo is feeling it, it'd be fun to see what he does against the Lakers and their crap defense.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 13 Feb 2014 00:40

I am still watching as many games as I can.
I feel like there are way too many games in general and games I can't see to really follow what's going on.
Little frustrating.

Watched the Linsanity documentary. Better than expected - not as much christianity as I feared.

Allstar Games are all way too late for me to see due to time differences. Hope to catch a rerun later.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 13 Feb 2014 11:15

In a perfect world, I'd make the regular season only 50 games. Each game would be that much more important, and there'd be fewer injuries by playoff time. Of course, that's never going to happen since it'd cost the league money.

I'll check out the All-Star game this weekend for sure. I feel like Lillard, Curry, and Anthony Davis will all be a blast to watch in that environment, and they'll be amped up since its their first time.

Asmus, thoughts on the Knicks recent slump? They just lost to the Bucks (worst team in NBA) and Kings (worst team in West) in the past week. The season is 63% over, and the Knicks haven't shown me anything to believe they can win a playoff series, much less make the playoffs.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 14 Feb 2014 00:17

I haven't seen many games lately but my general opinion on the Knicks is that even though it looks bad I don't think it's that hard too fix.

Their offense is not working. Here is the problems I see:
- Obviously there is a lot of pressure on Melo.
Melo is a great player but he doesn't have that many weapons in his arsenal. So he needs help.
- They pass the ball around way too slowly. The games they win the ball travels faster and has more station.
- Stoudemire will never be the same player he used to be. But if he get's to 50% he will be a weapon that could make room for Melo.
- Hardaway Jr. will be a force to be reckoned with next season.
- J. R. Smith needs to get his head out of his butt
Image

Also there is just seem to be a losing attitude. The commentators constantly say that Woodson is a winner. I don't see it. He looks like a defeated man and needs to go.

Their defense should be good enough. End of discussion. Especially if they had a winning attitude (Tyson Chandler!!! :x ).

I don't think these problems will be fixed this year but they could be for next season. Everybody says all the teams will be much better next year but it also takes time to get new players to work on team and since Knicks 90% sure will have no changes at all that means they wont have this problem.
If they get a good streak in the beginning of next season they will go to playoffs.

I hope they wait it off and not make any crazy trades or risky moves in the coming 18 months.
But we are talking about the Knicks here..

That's my thoughts.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 14 Feb 2014 06:56

My view of the Knicks defense:

Overall: Bad

Great defenders: Tyson Chandler.

Above average defenders: Metta World Peace.

Players with potential to be above average defenders: Shumpert and Hardaway Jr.

Average defenders: Melo, JR, Prigioni

Bad defenders: Felton and Stoudemire. Both are really bad.

Historically bad defenders: Bargnani. I didn't think the Knicks could do worse than the two guys listed above, but they somehow went out and got Bargs. Yikes.

From the analysis I've read, the only teams that have ever made the Finals with anything less than a top 10 defense, have done so on the strength of an offense that's basically #1 or #2 in the league. The Knicks have one of the worst defenses in the league, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Their best hope is if they can absorb their bad contracts over the next 4-5 years, and let Melo walk for free, then completely rebuild in like 5 years. I don't see them doing that though.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 15 Feb 2014 00:23

I think I have a different outlook on this than you and pretty much every Knicks-fan out there.
I don't care much about rings now since I don't see that happening anytime soon.

So my analysis was more based on how they could start playing some good basketball and not how they would be a factor in playoffs.

Another thing I was thinking about the other day is that Knicks is such a big brand and bring in a lot of funds and press to the NBA.
The NBA seem pretty corrupt so I wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks completely sucked for 2 seasons or so that a great draft pick and/or a surprisingly good trade fell in to their lap.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 24 Feb 2014 08:05

Nets signed Jason Collins to a 10 day contract, and he saw game action yesterday. The significance is that Jason Collins is openly gay, so this marks the first time that an openly gay athlete has played in one of the 4 major sports. Jason isn't a great player at this stage in his career, but just the fact that he's playing, that his locker room and team supports him, and that the league is embracing this...it feels like big progress for American society. I'm really proud the NBA took the lead on this.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 26 Feb 2014 23:51

That is so frigging awesome Ken. Congratulations to USA and NBA.


Write more Ken. I am curious to what is going on and can't handle the information overload.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 27 Feb 2014 09:37

I wish I had more time to write. I haven't even had time to really watch lately. I tuned into a game yesterday hoping to watch Anthony Davis, since he's really fun to watch and his games are never on TV. I tuned in at halftime, where they were talking about how he got injured in the first half and wouldn't play the second. Timing fail amaze.

Trade deadline fallout:

:arrow: Pacers traded Granger for Evan Turner. I think this was a good move. Turner is younger, and should be an offensive upgrade over Granger for their bench. Turner kinda sucks on defense, but we'll see if he can adjust. Either way, I feel like the Pacers are making moves like they think they can win it all. At this point in the season, I think I'd have to favor them over the Heat in the East. Can they win it all? Depends who makes it out of the west...if Westbrook meshes well with the Thunder now that he's back, that would be a great series.

:arrow: The other side of the Pacer trade is that Granger got bought out by the 76ers. He'll likely sign with a contender in the next couple days. How crazy/awesome would it be if the Heat picked him up, and he played against his old team in the Eastern Finals?

:arrow: Clippers exchanged their shitty backup bigmen for Glen Davis. I think this will be a big deal come the playoffs. Davis isn't amazing, but on those old Celtics team he knew his role and was a solid bench guy. This move could push the Clips into the West finals. I still don't see them making the Finals though...but they could prove me wrong.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by Asmus » 17 Mar 2014 13:53

Keeeen! I need your knowledge on the Phil Jackson move. What you think sensei?
Asmus wrote:Their offense is not working. Here is the problems I see:
- They pass the ball around way too slowly. The games they win the ball travels faster and has more station.
I am not saying I am a basketball professor or anything but Knicks are passing the ball around a lot faster in the games I have seen after their win streak started.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 18 Mar 2014 08:20

Asmus wrote: I am not saying I am a basketball professor or anything but Knicks are passing the ball around a lot faster in the games I have seen after their win streak started.
That may be the case. I wouldn't read too much into it though, since it's a small sample size, and I think a bunch of those games were against teams that have already given up on the season. The last month of the NBA season is a weird time, since different teams have different objectives at this stage of the season, and consequently give different levels of effort. You have at least these categories, in order from trying hardest to trying the least:

:arrow: Teams that are fighting for one of the final playoff spots. If you are on the bubble, you generally want to fight to get in. I won't get into all the reasons here, just know that these teams will fight hard at the end of the season.
:arrow: Teams that are guaranteed a playoff spot, but are jockeying for better position. The difference between the 4 seed and the 5 seed is homecourt advantage in the first round, which is a big deal. But you also have teams that want to get out of the 7 or 8 seed, since those slots are doomed to play the best teams. If you move up to the 6th seed in the East, you will play the Raptors or Bulls. You'll still probably lose in the first round, but your chances are WAY better than if you had to face the Pacers or Heat. So some teams will still try at the end of the year to try and avoid unfavorable matchups in the playoffs.
:arrow: Teams guaranteed a playoff spot, but with no chance of moving up or down. These are rarer, but happen every year. These teams won't kill themselves effort wise, but they won't mail in games either, since they want to be in good playing shape for the playoffs.
:arrow: Teams that are furiously tanking. These teams don't try. Or if they do try, they try to lose. These teams always have a stake in the next year's lottery. Teams that lack a pick in the next lottery (like the Knicks), have no incentive to tank the end of the season. Other teams though are gunning for one of the worst records so they can get a high lottery pick in the next lottery. In some cases, teams "protect" a pick by saying they will trade it if it falls outside/inside a certain range. For example, last year the Pelicans traded the Sixers a pick, so long as it fell outside the op 5 picks. They did that thinking they'd be a good team, and that the pick would fall in the 10-14 range. Instead, they got slammed by injury and the West was a lot better than expected, so now that pick might be as good as 6-8. That's a big difference. So the Pelicans have incentive to either furiously tank and hope to get a top 5 pick (not going to happen), or try hard enough that the pick they gave up in the trade doesn't end up being that good.

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Re: Ken and Asmus talk about the 2014 NBA Season

Post by C-Fan » 25 Mar 2014 15:10

Dirk was injured and didn't play in a game recently, but was on the local tv commenting crew. Then this happened:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6uALYCAaoM[/youtube]

So good!

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