Legendary…

Nerlens Noel Sent to D-league amidst Post Injury and Trade Rumors

76ers power forward/ center Nerlens Noel has been sent to the D-league for practice on injury assignment and will return to the Sixers on Thursday, according to the team. Let’s be honest, as of right now and for the past year, trading Noel makes the most sense for the Sixers and their future progression to becoming an elite contender. He’s also made it clear that he doesn’t want to be in Philly. With Simmons coming back at SF (should be around mid-January, 12 weeks for recovery plus a few to get back in shape) there’s going to be a cut in playing time for existing players, and with an overload of centers it just makes more sense to trade for a player that we can actually utilize. Here’s what to ESPN’s Marc Stein had to say about the on-going situation,

“Nothing has changed here. Noel has yet to appear in a game this season after electing to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery last month, but word is he’d still prefer to be shipped to a new address with so many big men to battle for playing time in Philly. Count on the Sixers to accommodate him eventually.”

There are teams that I think would be better suited for Noel. The couple that comes right to mind are the Knicks and the Bulls. I’ll be sure to go more in depth with my trade break downs,opinions, and reasonings this week, until then let me know what you think.

Top Five Favorite Players in History PT. 1

This is not a post that I take lightly, nor do I think there’s is any room for my opinions on this within the next five years or even ten years to change. Throughout history there have been a handful of groundbreaking athletes. Wilt chamberlain scored 100 point in one game (and probably slept with the same amount of women that night) but he also didn’t pass the ball and missed almost half the shots he made. Is that a great player or a selfish player? I’ll leave that up for your own personal opinion in the comment section. So what exactly makes an elite top five in history player?

5. Bill Russell

(You know since I mentioned Wilt in the intro that this was coming)

Team most known for: Celtics

Career- Points: 14,552 (15.1 PPG), Rebounds: 21,620 (22.5 RPG), Assists 4,100 (4.3 APG), 11x NBA champ,  5x MVP, 12x NBA All-Star

It’s almost impossible to not bring Bill up in a conversation about ball. I’ve never been a “stats don’t lie” kind of person when it comes to basketball, because there’s more to this sport than strictly numbers. If it was all about stats the Spurs would be the most popular team in the league due to their consistency, but we all know that’s not the case. The one thing that these stats do say however is that Russell was a powerhouse center to say the least, eluded off the charts defense while still actually passing the ball. A player can score a million points but it doesn’t matter if they don’t have a ring. These elite players rack their brains trying to figure the ring formula, and it’s safe to say Russell had it figured out with 11. That’s the most in NBA history. The reason he is number 5, however, is because it’s always hard to tell with historical players if they were only elite in that time period because the rules were so lax and different, or if their talent could transcend through time.

4. Shaq

Career- Points 28,596 (23.7 PPG) , Rebounds 13,099 (10.9 RPG), Assists 3,026 (2.5 APG), 4x NBA Champ, 1xMVP 15x NBA All-Star

(if he is a top three player on your list I won’t argue with you)

Teams most known for: Magic/Lakers/ Heat

A heavy (to say the least), dominant, “where the hell did he come from” center. When Shaq was drafted the Orlando Magic was a brand new team with no buzz in the league at all. At the time the only thing people associated with Orlando with was literally Micky Mouse and alligators.  A young Shaq changed that quicky. Fast forward to 1993 Pat Williams and the Orlando franchise got the number one pick. Who was everybody expecting to join Shaq and propel the team, Chris Webber of course. Right?  Nope, they traded the number one pick with the GSW and the fans were pissed (to say the least). What fans don’t realize is that just because a player arguably has more talent, that does not mean that they have chemistry with an already existing team or the premier player at the moment.

 

The Shaq and Penny duo propelled both of their careers, and if ego and injury didn’t happen I can say with confidence that they would have got some rings. I could talk about Shaq being a dominant player all day, but what really convinced me was his 20 game swing. The year Shaq left the Lakers the team’s overall wins dropped by 20, (Lakers 2003 record w/ Shaq: 56-26, Lakers 2004 record w/o Shaq 34-48) while the Heat gained 20 more wins than their previous season  without Shaq (heat 2003 record w/o Shaq: 42-40 , heat 2004 record w/ Shaq: 59–23).Coincidence? I don’t think so. Stay tuned for my top three and in the meantime let me know who you have in your #5 and #4 spots. To be continued…

You Just Gotta love NBA IG Posts

 

I’m thinking of making a top 20 funniest NBA IG memes and gifs, but until then I’m just going to leave this here…

Westbrook is Going Off!

Let me start off by saying that according to NBA.com Westbrook is tied with LeBron in the 6th spot for all time triple-doubles and has played in 395 less games than Bron. If anyone is excited as hell about this, it’s me. The petty side of me is excited because he wanted OKC to be his team and he got it, while making KD look even crazier about the way he played out his trade decision. It’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it; and if Westbrook is doing this to prove a point, he won. Yeah, its cool to when you break records for strictly points and having a high field goal percentage, but averaging a triple double is a tremendous sign of being a true elite player. In the last 24 hours this man has had 53 points, 25 rebounds, and 33 assists. That’s not only two triple-doubles, but 2 wins as well. This are getting interesting very intresting in the NBA, and that’s saying the least.

Draymond Green Will Not be Playing Tonight Due to an Ankle Contusion, According to ESPN

THE EMBIID SHOW!

It’s not news that Philadelphia got the first choice in the draft, and we were thankful to say the least. The last time we got first pick we got none other than the G.O.A.T himself (no, no, not MJ). Allen Iverson didn’t just revamp the Sixers franchise but bought “real” back to the league. There are some people that will always be remembered not just for how they played but what the bought to the game. The fab five integrated hip hop culture and basketball, people payed to see what color Dennis Rodman’s hair was going to be, and people who don’t even know the difference between offense and defense wear Jordan’s on the daily. Allen Iverson changed my entire idea of basketball, he made it more than a game, it was entertainment and I’ve been hooked ever since. Fast forward to 2016. The Sixers choose Ben Simmons and then he broke his right foot. So all hope was lost right? Here’s where the Embiid show started.

I talked about this a little bit the November “season standings so far” post. As of right now the 7-foot center only averages about 22 minutes per game, but has averaged 20 or more in 5 games so far, along with great defense and minimal turnovers (*cough* Okafor take notes*cough*) I smell rookie of the year for Embiid. The Sixers are also taking their time and it looks as though they’re doing their best to not over-work the 22-year-old since he has suffered from injuries before. So when Ben comes back (I heard talk about him coming back in January but that can always change) what will the Sixers do? We have players like Hollis Thompson who is out scoring the starters and Jerryd Bayless just got back from injury. So it’s safe to say there’s going to be some moving around. Ben Simmons is automatically going to need a starting spot and the ball in his hands for us to really truly get a feel for him and what he can do for us offensively. In all seriousness, our team is very young and there’s going to take time for growth. I give it five years,for the Sixers and there is a real chance for them to become an elite team. We just have to sit back and “trust the process”.

If you had to pick a vet player to join the Sixers right now and solidify the roster, who would it be?

D Wade Gets a Standing Ovation…From Miami

Last night the Bulls took the Heat 98-95, and even though Wade didn’t have the best game ( 13-7-4) it definitely wasn’t bad. He went on to say it was “the worst basketball game I ever played in my life” and “I couldn’t wait until it was over.” Even though he was saying it as a joke, we all know there was truth to it. It would be weird for anyone to play against a team that they’ve spent 13 seasons, grew as a player and saw the height of their career with. I mean honestly, it’s slightly bizarre to see Wade in anything but a Heat Jersey (nothing is as weird as KD in that GSW jersey, yes I bought it up again). One of the players that spent time with Wade before the game, and one of the daily saviors of my fantasy league, was Jimmy Butler (20-4-5 last night) who said “he’s so calm about it.” Even though Wade was one quote short of calling that game the twilight zone, heat fans we’rent phased. They gave him a standing ovation at the end of the game while they chanted “D-Wade” over and over. The media focuses so much on scorned fans burning jerseys, that it’s easy forget that there’s some fan-player relationships that will be there forever regardless of what team the player goes to( I was about to bring up Philly’s relationship with Allen Iverson, but that deserves an entire post that I’m conjuring up in my head as we speak). Before that night Wade had scored 20,364 point while in the NBA, and for the first time in history, he scored 20 against the only team he never scored against.

Mark Cuban VS. ESPN

yeah, that title sounds wild to me too, but we’re also talking about Cuban here. According to mavsmoneyball.com, Mark Cuban banned ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon ,Marc Stein, and any other ESPN writer that decides they want to cover the franchise. He literally banned ESPN (from a writing perspective). I know, “can he do that?” yeah he can. He’s Mark Cuban. At first I was thinking “damn, that’s bold” but at the same time Cuban is known for taking risks and doing/saying what he wants when he wants. I was interested to say the least. In a lengthy email that you can find here he breaks it down. The fact is, lately in almost every sports league there are automated robots that are able to take stats and make stories out of them. This basically means that by 2030 this post will be equivalent to a VCR. No one will know what a blog is and instead of me, some robot will be trying to convince you that the Sixers are great and Steph Curry isn’t human. Cuban wants to take a stand against this to give actual beat writers a chance against the future (if that’s really the bottom line, thanks Cuban).  On the opposition MacMahon and Stein have also issued a statement basically saying they hope they can all come to a resolution. At the end of the day ESPN is a huge solidified company and the NBA as a whole has a pretty solid partnership with them. This is a league that also does whatever it can to  not get messy (we can’t afford any slip ups after the 80’s) , so it’s safe to say Cuban is the underdog here, but hey it makes for a good story right?

Season Standings So Far

Okay, I know it’s early in the season but as soon as Cleveland lost on the road to the Atlanta Hawks yesterday, don’t tell me that you we’rent thinking what I was thinking. That took out all possibility of a team going undefeated this season. Does this matter? no not really, but I did dwell on the question on “can we still have that early undefeated GS magic of last season?”. The teams to watch out for are of course Cleveland (6-1 ), Hornets (5-1) and the Hawks (5-1) in the Eastern Conference. For the Western Conference OKC is like Durant who? they’re clearly trying to prove a point and by “they” I mean Westbrook who’s leading the team in points, rebounds, and assists (30-8-9, if he starts averaging a triple-double for the season I will literally fly to Oklahoma to watch a game, I have been waiting  for Russell to get the team in this way for a while, all the messy GSW trading was just a bonus). The L.A clippers who are 5-2; and I would put the Spurs but you know how they are. The Spurs are a team to watch stats-wise,but we all know that they play as fundamentalists so they’re never terrible during regular season. It’s always been that way and kind of almost will. I forgot about GS. Curry broke the record for most three’s in a game (13/17) and they’re averaging the most PPG at 119, but they’re number 4 in their conference right now. (can you tell that I’m already tired of talking about Steph? He’s the one guy everyone leaves out of the conversation, just because it’s like why bother. It’s like bringing up MJ in a G.O.A.T conversation, say the name and don’t discuss it, we get it already.)

Sidebar: for all of the people saying “I told you so” about the Sixers, shut up. They’re still a young developing team with A LOT of potential (I know you see it) and an injured number one draft pick. Save your arguments for later.