The NBA Thread

[Ignatius]

Yeah... I think there will always be an edge to Cavs-Heat games for as long as either team is remotely relevant, but it would be nice to see it settle into a competitive rivalry rather than targeted hatred.

Only recently have I considered his move in any way other than a knee-jerk reaction. I tried and failed to come up with a comparable situation where such a talented athlete at the top of his game left behind a city that adored him so much... When Shaq left Orlando, it was partly because Magic fans were already ambivalent about him, and LA made a better offer anyhow. Charles Barkley, Jaromir Jagr and Wayne Gretzky were all traded. I'm sure that loyalty to a city is a real feeling, but I wonder how big of a role fear of public vilification plays when an athlete is at the end of his contract and considers his options. I understand why it bothers fans, but the 'rules' that are supposed to govern the free agent's conscience are pretty flimsy stand-ins for the different desires of thousands of jerks and rich jerk owners.

I certainly wouldn't say that LBJ is brave or any kind of trailblazer (teehee) and he made several real mistakes - he should have told his team first, and The Decision was way over the top and self-obsessed. But if it slightly opens up the possibility of free agent athletes making these choices for themselves, it's not the worst thing that ever happened to basketball. If he really does want to win championships, I still think it was the wrong move, however.

I would love to see the Cavs maybe make a deal for a true scorer and compete for a playoff spot, however. Dunno if they're any fun at all to watch, but I like to root for them no less than I did when LBJ was on the roster.

[dumbfish]

One wrinkle in other situations is that most others took bigger offers to leave, so fans could tell themselves it was about the money. Doesn't apply here, so it probably feels like a more specific rejection.

[Babar]

How do you guys like the new Golden State Warriors logo?



I think it's beautiful. The shade of the blue in particular. I kinda like the Warriors now in big part because of the logo and the new uniforms, shows how superficial I am when it comes to rooting for teams. It's a huge improvement over this monstrosity:



I also like the new Jazz uniforms although having the numbers in green instead of just blue in style with the rest of the uniform stings my eyes a little bit, but not too much:

[Greg Nog]

Is that just a preliminary sketch, or are they actually going with Copperplate for the final design?

[coldforge]

Yeah, the Copperplate Gothic fucking kills it for me. I agree that the Jazz uniform is nice and retro but the navy–forest green–yellow color scheme would not be my first choice.

[elpollodiablo]

That new Warriors logo is classy, like something you'd see on a bottle of microbrew.

[Babar]

I'm grateful for being font-blind for everything that's not comic sans, so it looks alright to me. Utah have kinda been wandering aimlessly since they stopped using these eye-rapers:


So they look great bringing back the Note logo on the uniform. It's not as cool as these ones though:



But that's perhaps the coolest NBA uniform ever, with the short-shorts and all.

[dumbfish]

Next one not visually great, but the name!

[Babar]

Yeah, I stand corrected.

[Ignatius]

I like the 'new' Cavs uniforms this year. I also like how the Raptors and Rockets are able to consistently design uniforms that seem out of date the moment they are exposed to light.

[dumbfish]

Good call.

Who says pinstripes are slimming?

[Babar]

Ditto on the new Cavs uniform and pretty much everything Cavs since Lebron entered, the logo, new uniforms, the throwback uniforms they sometimes wear, all good stuff.

I wanna get the old Nuggets uniform but they only seem to sell Alex English, I want Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo!

(why is "dikembe mutombu dies" and "dikembe mutombu dead" the 3rd and 4th popular Dikembe searches on google?)

[Babar]

Watching Clippers-Lakers, Clippers up by one, 42 seconds left, oh shiiiiit.

[Babar]

This is really youth vs. champions. Lakers stole the ball and are now up by 1

oh shiiiiiiiiiiit

[Babar]

clippers up by 1, 3 seconds left, oh shiieeeeeeeettt

[Babar]

Wow. D. Fish drove to the basket and the ball left his hand literally a tenth of a second before time ran out and DeAndre Jordan was literally a tenth of an inch from blocking it aaaaaand it went in for the win. I love basketball.

[dumbfish]

Someone had a good line on that-- Brutal way for Bledsoe to find out Fisher's left-handed.

[Babar]

Holy shit. Boston won 76ers with a last second Rondo-to-Garnett alley oop. I love Doc Rivers.


xpost: yeah, that shit was crazy as well.

[dumbfish]

I guess the Sixers didn't see how the Bucks won last night.

[Trousers and Pat]

My god that is beautiful

[Ignatius]

If only people could wear basketball jerseys in the course of their day-to-day lives without looking like jackasses or pizza deliverers.

[dumbfish]

The "hoopster" thing will fade soon enough. You have my thumbs up to wear a hoops jersey in any situation that you'd be willing to wear any other tank top.

[coldforge]

Hoopster? That's so bizarre. I guess it makes sense. Baseball got mainstream again.

[Ignatius]

Perhaps it is a different matter under the hot southern sun, but men without sleeves doing anything but recreational physical activity or outdoor labor look real dumb to me. So I guess we agree on the 'any other tank top' rule. But you know what else? Fuck me and my pretensions.

[Ignatius]

cf - I think the recent hipster associations with basketball have more to do with the actual jerseys than the sport.