NBA Offseason 2014

Stephen Marbury is starring and playing himself in a musical about his life in China, "I am Stephen Marbury."
Couldn't make this up, I thought this was a joke, haha. http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/stephon-marbury-the-musical-a-tale-of-making-it-in-beijing/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
8 Mile and Eminem watch out!

Hopefully world cup Pau comes to Chicago

I don't recall anyone hating on Pau to be fair.

Shawn Marion officially signed as a Cav!

Paul George putting his downtime to good use :rolleyes: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2191370-athletes-and-media-react-to-ray-rice-domestic-violence-video

He's a f*cking moron. Larry kicked his ass round the place after by the looks of the Pacers statement.

The Bulls are lucky to have some great guys on the team.

@TajGibson22: "I like coming off the bench tho!!! Starting or coming of the bench really doesn't matter. Please miss me with the drama #SeeRed #BullsNation"

(context for this: Report: Taj Gibson not thrilled to come off bench for Bulls)

Really like that.

Not that basketball related but still, ESPN has suspended Bill Simmons after he went on a profanity-laced rant about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The company released a statement Wednesday that read:

"Every employee must be accountable to ESPN and those engaged in our editorial operations must also operate within ESPN’s journalistic standards. We have worked hard to ensure that our recent NFL coverage has met that criteria. Bill Simmons did not meet those obligations in a recent podcast, and as a result we have suspended him for three weeks."

Simmons went on his podcast, The B.S. Report, earlier in the week and called Goodell "a liar." He took issue with the way in which the league has handled the Ray Rice affair, via For the Win's Nick Schwartz:

"Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar. I’m just saying it. He is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test, that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such [expletive] [expletive]. It really is, it’s such [expletive] [expletive]. For him to go into that press conference and pretend otherwise—I was so insulted."

Simmons went on to dare ESPN to censor him as well.

"I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell, because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast. Thank you.""

No idea how this relates to Grantland as he posted a picture on Instagram that him and Jalen Rose are preparing to tape their NBA Previews for this season for Grantland

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Not that basketball related but still, ESPN has suspended Bill Simmons after he went on a profanity-laced rant about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

That sucks, no podcasts or columns for 3 weeks. I hope it's not a trigger to Simmons leaving ESPN, because I think he knew what he was doing. He wanted to make a point, he wanted ESPN to reprimand him. I don't think he thought he'd get as severe a suspension as 3 weeks, which is almost unprecedented (I think ESPN knew what he was doing, and gave him the extra harsh suspension because of that).

Simmons is a writer, he knows the value of words. The word that got him suspended was 'liar'. He could've said 'that press conference was a load of bull', and would've been fine, but 'liar' carries connotations of slander. Everyone knows Goodell is lying, but he's so practiced in bull****, he never says anything of substance, that it's hard to technically pin him down on a lie.

Side note: the NBA is lucky to have a good commissioner in Adam Silver. It's early in his tenure yet, but everything he's said and done so far is poles apart from Goodell: honest, transparent, competent, wants to improve the sport first, and believes the money will follow if you do that (this is the correct long-term approach to me).

Goodell...dishonest, vague, incompetent, thinks of increasing revenue first and foremost at the long-term expense of the sport (example: wants to add 2 more playoff teams, it's a pure money-grab that damages the long-term structure of the season).

I watched his press conference the other night. It was 45 minutes of bull****, a big two-fingers to fans of the sport who wanted some answers. Total charade done to appease sponsors and possibly owners...'I'm going to stand up here and say nothing for 45 minutes'.

This is what set Simmons off I think. You can forgive some mistakes, no-one's perfect, but don't go up and brazenly bull**** people about it, which Goodell systematically did. I take my hat off to Simmons, I think he's knowingly taken a hit to make a point that needed to be made. I hope it doesn't affect his long-term relationship with ESPN.

I just knocked across this article and found it to be very interesting. http://developyourbballiq.com/the-san-antonio-spurs-ball-movement-and-triple-threat/

stuba wrote: »

A few Hibbert to the Cavs rumours going around. What do people think of that?

Despite losing Stephenson & Turner, I can't see the Pacers trading Hibbert unless their going into "blow it up" mode

Can't see it happening.

Pacers are depending on Roy a lot this year. Maybe this new sense of trust will get him out of his strop.

NufcNavan wrote: »

Can't see it happening.

Pacers are depending on Roy a lot this year. Maybe this new sense of trust will get him out of his strop.

Roy might have a great year since they are missing george and stephenson this year. He'll definitely get more touches anyway