What you are about to read..is fucking awesome
October 24, 2012 8:39 AM   Subscribe

ESPN NBA blog The Hardwood Paroxysm has released a 2012-2013 Season Preview Guide [PDF] full of clever, opinionated (or sometimes data-driven) previews of each team and star player.

But if you're in the mood to peruse on Basketball history instead, try the Championship Belt blog, which treats basketball as if it were wrestling.
posted by Potomac Avenue (29 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
I was just about to be productive.
posted by pickinganameismuchharderthanihadanticipated at 8:41 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Mods--pls delete this thread before any additional participants in the mefi bball fantasy league read it.
posted by mullacc at 8:45 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


WAIT THERE IS A MEFI FANTASY BASKETY-BALL LEAGUE?

WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME?
posted by mightygodking at 8:46 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I was just about to be productive.

I doubt that.

If you do nothing else though, skip to the OKC dream sequence.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:47 AM on October 24, 2012


WAIT THERE IS A MEFI FANTASY BASKETY-BALL LEAGUE?

WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:47 AM on October 24, 2012


Two words: Bucks suck.

("Shit sandwich.")
posted by Madamina at 8:50 AM on October 24, 2012


WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME?

You're kidding, right? I actually thought you were in it.
posted by mullacc at 8:54 AM on October 24, 2012


That's a great site -- perhaps the best all-around BB site. Occasionally, The Gothic Ginobili can have some really great stuff, too. For Spurs-specific news & commentary, you can't beat Pounding The Rock.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:59 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Well forget YOU then, I'm going to make my OWN MeFi fantasy baskety-ball league!

With blackjack! And hookers!
posted by mightygodking at 8:59 AM on October 24, 2012


Reading the section on the 76ers confirms my initial reactions to the Bynum trade - likely doomed, but if it does go down in flames at least it will be entertaining doom, which is better than the team has had it for years. (The one person who says the team was "for real" last season obviously never saw them play before that Bulls series. Taking the Celtics to seven games was the absolute ceiling for Iguodala & co.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:00 AM on October 24, 2012


I would be up for joining a league!
posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 9:01 AM on October 24, 2012


Christ I love basketball. Cool post.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 9:03 AM on October 24, 2012


Bynum is a bum. I'm only sad that the Lakers traded him so they aren't the perfect team of bums and jerks anymore.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:04 AM on October 24, 2012


I am very happy to see this. However, if you're going to put out an 80-something page pdf with an index, shouldn't you include page numbers?
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 9:12 AM on October 24, 2012


RE: Hidden Fantasy basketball league. Yet more proof that most people don't read metatalk.

me being one of them, because it's mostly fighting.
posted by French Fry at 9:14 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Great preview. Also I'll posterize you in this theoretical fantasy basketball league I also didn't know about. By posterize I mean I'll pretty much be Scalabrine. So not posterize you at all. Anyway, hoops.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 9:18 AM on October 24, 2012


Finally a Metafilter thread where I can vent about this looking to be a very exciting season for the Lakers, but as of now, I and many other Southern California residents have no means of watching most of their games, unless they happen to be broadcast nationally.
posted by The Gooch at 9:21 AM on October 24, 2012


As long as you don't look at the Lakers they may be both A Huge Success or a Dead Cat.
posted by French Fry at 9:27 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


Reading the Lakers section was good. There's a lot to be said about that team (they're not my team, which means that I strenuously dislike them... unlike, say, Golden State or the Bucks, who just leave me nonplussed). One thing I don't think commentators have stressed is that the 2012/12 Lakers aren't as much about Kobe or Dwight trying for a ring as much as they are about Nash making everyone else work together. Look at Kobe, Dwight and Pau. Those are some... erratic... personalities. Getting them to play together at a really high level is going to be on Nash as much as themselves individually. And he's pretty old for his type of player.

Then again, if you're going to hitch your wagon (for this type of challenge) to any player in the league, Steve Nash is a pretty wise guy to roll with. Not only is he a really great play maker, but his drive to win is exceptional.
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 9:35 AM on October 24, 2012 [1 favorite]


I was in the league last year and heard nothing about it this year. What's going on?
posted by Navelgazer at 10:05 AM on October 24, 2012


I and many other Southern California residents have no means of watching most of their games, unless they happen to be broadcast nationally.

The best of this story is this part:

Whatever, it's so nutty, as of now, even the Lakers can't watch the Lakers. The television provider for their El Segundo headquarters building is DirecTV.
posted by srboisvert at 10:14 AM on October 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


I was in the league last year and heard nothing about it this year. What's going on?

I went to MetaTalk and I see nothing about a new league for this season. Therefore, the MeFi Blackjack And Hookers League is open for business. Can we get 8-12 people?
posted by mightygodking at 10:19 AM on October 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


Make the metatalk thread yo. I will play (but only for $) ;)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:27 AM on October 24, 2012


I love having all of this in one place. When I was a kid I would gobble up the Street & Smith's previews every year. Grantland is also doing some interesting preview articles, but they're coming out piecemeal instead of all at once.

And mightygodking, I'm down for fantasy bball.
posted by thecjm at 10:27 AM on October 24, 2012


MetaTalk thread for organizing fantasy league here.
posted by mightygodking at 10:41 AM on October 24, 2012


Just bought NBA league pass for the first time ever. Just trying to get invited over to people's houses who have internet ready TV's basically.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:42 PM on October 24, 2012


Between trying to skirt Japan's new downloading laws, the unlikelihood of having any way to watch them legally, and certainly having no way to watch them live, my rabid, near psychotic need to watch games unspoiled* kills my ability to fantasy play. I managed to watch every single Bulls game last year, and this year, well, Derek Rose bursting into tears while trying to talk about his new shoe (after watching a commercial that featured his injury), I'm less positive about the season, life, and the ability to be happy.

In other words, if I joined, I'd be playing up to three days behind, and any interaction with my inability to feel anything positive would leave you all horribly damaged.

Anyway. Someone pick Mike Conley with Memphis. O.J. Mayo is gone, he's supposedly been working on his shot. Breakout year. With Love's hand injury, Derek Williams should be able to finally play PF.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:35 PM on October 24, 2012


...their frontcourt will be even more reliant on Boozer not to be the worst. And asking Carlos Boozer not to be the worst is a tall order. Because Carlos Boozer is the worst.

This is true. It is all kinds of true. The man has no elevation, but is shorter than the average power forward. The shots he takes while posting up are essentially the same shots I take, that weird, off balance on one foot leaning back one-handed bank shot, or worse, the attempt to go under the arm of the defender and try an awkward scoop shot, hoping they're not fast enough to swat it down. Other than that, he's a jump shooting PF.

I'm not sold on Butler being the answer at the 2 yet. Yes, he'll likely be a lockdown defender this year, but I don't see him averaging more than 10 points this year. The thing is, I don't see a regular 20 point scorer on the team. Deng has always been best as a third or fourth option, Noah might average 10-13 points a game (though he might lead the team in assists), Boozer will end up being the go-to guy (goddamn, will to live is fading) but seriously? 16 points. Max. Then there's Hinrich (full-disclosure, I have a Hinrich jersey from his first stint), who... 9 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, a steal and a half, two turnovers a game. Who is going to score? Nate Robinson?

The Bears are doing well, at least.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:56 PM on October 24, 2012



Chicago Bulls fans hate Carlos Boozer.

They dislike many things. ACLs, for example. The Knicks or Celtics, depending on the decade. Jerry Reinsdorf’s penny-pinching ways. But Carlos Boozer? His idea of contesting on defense is to yell a lot. His idea of drawing a foul on offense is to yell a lot. He gets injured all the time, at which point he yells. A lot. He paints his hair on. He disappears in the playoffs. They don’t dislike him. They hate him. Carlos Boozer freaking sucks, man. Why can’t Thibs just play Taj?


this made me LOL hard because it's so true. i may be the exception though -- i love to livetweet Boozer's manscaping wonders :D
posted by liza at 9:33 PM on October 24, 2012


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