[Poet of the Macabre]

I've started watching NBA this year, purely because I was in Atlanta last year and wanted to go to a Hawks game. They've played pretty well so far this season, sitting 16-8 I believe. Don't think they'll go deep in the play-offs but they can cause a surprise on a given night.

I think this year we're going to see Thunder vs Heat in the Finals. With Lebron James choking again and missing out on a ring

This post has been edited by Poet of the Macabre: 06 February 2012 - 22:40

[Christophe]

Poet of the Macabre, on 06 February 2012 - 08:10, said:

I've started watching NBA this year, purely because I was in Atlanta last year and wanted to go to a Hawks game. They've played pretty well so far this season, sitting 16-8 I believe. Don't think they'll go deep in the play-offs but they can cause a surprise on a given night.

I think this year we're going to see Thunder vs Heat in the Finals. With Lebron James choking again and missing out on a ring

Not seen the Hawks yet this year. ESPN have been a bit conservative with their selections thus far. Loads of Lakers, Heat, Magic, Thunder in particular.


Is Horford out? Think he might be. That's a blow. Love watching Josh Smith. Explosive. One of those well-organised defensive sides that just seem programmed to totally freeze on offence late on. Like Jeff Teague as well. Does the passing whilst airborne thing better than most PGs. Good fun. Classic nearly team but easy to like.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

If I see the Hawks playing the Lakers I always bet on the Hawks, not sure if they have, but they seem to have a great record against them and are always good odds.

[Christophe]

Billups out for the Clips. Season ender. Bit of a blow but Butler and Gomes can potentially slide over to the 2. They'll miss his leadership and big game savvy in the play-offs, mind.

[Christophe]

Dwight Howard had a 1st quarter double-double against the Heat on Weds! This league is ridiculous!

[Christophe]

Jeremy Lin is clearly story of the season in human interest terms, even though it shouldn't be.

[Christophe]

Lin-sanity! Madison Square Guard-Lin! etc. Just saw him drop 38 on the Lakers. Never heard of him until last week. Undrafted from Harvard. Sensational stuff.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Christophe, on 14 February 2012 - 09:53, said:

Lin-sanity! Madison Square Guard-Lin! etc. Just saw him drop 38 on the Lakers. Never heard of him until last week. Undrafted from Harvard. Sensational stuff.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather believes that New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is getting national attention because of his race, rather than his exceptional play.


"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise," Mayweather wrote on his Twitter account on Monday afternoon.


"Its OK for ESPN to give their opinion but I say something and everyone questions Floyd Mayweather," the boxer tweeted. "I'm speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.


"Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized."


Aye ok Floyd.

Has he not seen him the last half dozen games or so? 1) You're not an NBA player so therefore can't "speak your mind on behalf on other NBA players". 2) You didn't "support Black American athletes", you said an Asian one is shite, over rated and onyl gathering hype because he's Asian.

Knob.

[Christophe]

Yep Floyd, best scoring average in first 5 games since the NBA-ABA merger of the mid 70s. Scored more points in his first 5 games than Jordan or Shaq did Absolutely astonishing stuff. Their 4th choice PG until a fortnight ago and came within a gnat's whisker of being cut and sent back to the D League when contracts were solidified for the rest of the season at that time. I'd never even heard of him, as I said before.


Awful stuff from Mayweather, he's being a right dick here. Utterly baseless. LIN YOUR FACE FLOYD! etc.


There was a banner at the Knicks-Lakers game that read "The Yellow Mamba" in obvious direct reference to Kobe (nicknamed The Black Mamba). That's a bit racist, isn't it? Isn't that a bit racist?

This post has been edited by Christophe: 17 February 2012 - 11:48

[TheGreenMonster]

Christophe, on 17 February 2012 - 11:47, said:

Yep Floyd, best scoring average in first 5 games since the NBA-ABA merger of the mid 70s. Scored more points in his first 5 games than Jordan or Shaq did Absolutely astonishing stuff. Their 4th choice PG until a fortnight ago and came within a gnat's whisker of being cut and sent back to the D League when contracts were solidified for the rest of the season at that time. I'd never even heard of him, as I said before.


Awful stuff from Mayweather, he's being a right dick here. Utterly baseless. LIN YOUR FACE FLOYD! etc.


There was a banner at the Knicks-Lakers game that read "The Yellow Mamba" in obvious direct reference to Kobe (nicknamed The Black Mamba). That's a bit racist, isn't it? Isn't that a bit racist?

The Celtics must be kicking themselves about Lin as it has emerged that they were going to claim him off waivers after he had been released by Golden State only for him to be signed by Houston before he got to them, they then intended to claim him after Houston waived him only for the Knicks to put in their claim first.

This post has been edited by TheGreenMonster: 17 February 2012 - 13:51

[TheGreenMonster]

[Shuggie_Murray7]

SEATTLE -- Christopher Hansen is making a $290 million proposal to his hometown that could be the impetus for a new sports arena that could bring the NBA and NHL to Seattle.

All he needs to make it a reality is city and county approval equaling $200 million and the two franchises.

Hansen, a hedge-fund manager based in San Francisco and a Seattle native, submitted a proposal to the city Thursday that calls for $290 million in private investment toward the construction of a new arena that would cost between $450 million and $500 million. Hansen and his investment group also would be responsible for the purchase of an NBA franchise and finding a partner interested in bringing an NHL franchise to Seattle as well.

The proposal represents the first significant step toward solving the arena problem that was at the root of the SuperSonics' move from Seattle to Oklahoma City following the 2007-08 NBA season, leaving behind 41 years of history. The proposal will now go before a review board -- a group of community leaders that includes one-time SuperSonics player and coach Lenny Wilkens -- with King County executive Dow Constantine hoping the review can be completed within a month.

According to a letter submitted by the Hansen, the remaining construction and development costs would be financed by the city and King County using taxes and revenues generated by the new facility and rent charged to the teams playing in the arena -- money that will not exist if the arena isn't built. City officials are adamant there will be no new public taxes needed for the building and the city's portion of the investment will be capped at $200 million with any additional cost overruns paid by the private investors.

From there, Hansen's proposal would need city and county approval. City Councilman Tim Burgess believes the council could complete its arena review as early as June. But even with ultimate approval, no shovels will be going into the land just south of Safeco Field until an anchor tenant is in hand with a 30-year lease agreement that includes a no-relocation clause. City officials say their projections for how the financing plan would work are based off having both an NHL and NBA team.

"There will be no arena unless there is an agreement to get a team here to occupy that arena over a very long term," Constantine said at an afternoon news conference that was part pep rally.

The amount of liability Hansen and his investment group are taking on is somewhat staggering and appears to comply with a voter-passed initiative from 2006 that prohibits Seattle from supporting teams with taxes unless such investments yield a profit.

City officials say the $290 million in private investment would be the third most among NBA or NHL arenas. The arena would be built on land Hansen already owns in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, where the Seahawks and Mariners already play.

"I am confident this proposal will be looked on favorably by both leagues and sincerely believe that together we can accomplish the goal of securing NBA and NHL franchises for our community," Hansen wrote in his proposal.

Seattle is the only top-15 media market in the country not to have at least three franchises in the four major professional leagues, and Thursday's announcement would appear to ratchet up pressure on places such as Sacramento, New Orleans and Phoenix, where their franchises face uncertain futures. Documents obtained through a public records request from the city of Seattle show Hansen is paying attention to what is happening in Sacramento, where a March 1 deadline looms for submitting plans to the NBA for funding a new arena.

The lynchpin of Sacramento's arena plan -- a proposal to divert and privatize parking revenues to cover roughly $200 million of the arena's costs -- is tentatively scheduled for a full city council vote Feb. 28.

Think BIG Sacramento, a regional initiative for a new arena launched by Sacramento mayorKevin Johnson, denounced Hansen's moves, calling them "publicity stunts aimed at derailing Sacramento's process to build an arena."

But the NHL's Coyotes in Phoenix and the NBA's Hornets in New Orleans are both currently owned by their respective leagues, although each league has strongly expressed its desire to find local ownership to keep those teams in those markets. A public records request by The Associated Press found that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's office has not had documented contact with either the NBA or NHL about a team coming to Seattle.

McGinn reiterated Thursday that the responsibility of dealing with the individual leagues is on Hansen and his partners, not the city or county. But he acknowledged this is as close as the area has been to solving its arena issue since the Sonics' messy divorce.

"I'm out of the prediction business. I'm not going into the prediction business on this one," McGinn said.

[lanky_ffc]

Maybe not the place for this question, but does anyone in Glasgow play basketball? I used to play - national with Falkirk at U16 and U18 - and I'm quite keen to get back into it.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

At ESPN we are aware of three offensive and inappropriate comments made on ESPN outlets during our coverage of Jeremy Lin.

Saturday we apologized for two references. We have since learned of a similar reference Friday on ESPN Radio New York.

The incidents were separate and different. We have engaged in a thorough review of all three and have taken the following action:
• The ESPN employee responsible for our Mobile headline has been dismissed.
• The ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for 30 days.
• The radio commentator is not an ESPN employee

We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.



This comes after ESPN ran a story about a poor game Lin had which was accompanied with headline "Chink in the armour". Jesus fucking Christ, the stupidity of some people makes me sad.

This post has been edited by Shuggie_Murray7: 20 February 2012 - 00:20

[Christophe]

Shuggie_Murray7, on 20 February 2012 - 00:20, said:

At ESPN we are aware of three offensive and inappropriate comments made on ESPN outlets during our coverage of Jeremy Lin.

Saturday we apologized for two references. We have since learned of a similar reference Friday on ESPN Radio New York.

The incidents were separate and different. We have engaged in a thorough review of all three and have taken the following action:
• The ESPN employee responsible for our Mobile headline has been dismissed.
• The ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for 30 days.
• The radio commentator is not an ESPN employee

We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.



This comes after ESPN ran a story about a poor game Lin had which was accompanied with headline "Chink in the armour". Jesus fucking Christ, the stupidity of some people makes me sad.

Ha! I dunno though, that headline is a bit daft.

Interesting Seattle story, especially with Sacramento being basically on the clock with regard to a new arena. Would personally love to see both Seattle and Vancouver back in. The former I suspect will happen at some point, the latter not (despite the strong Canadian dollar, probably their best selling point). Wouldn't want to see more than 30 teams though so not sure how it all pans out. Can't quite fathom why the NBA are so desperate to stay in New Orleans personally, little real history of basketball success, they're already 1 failed franchise in down there.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Christophe, on 20 February 2012 - 21:21, said:

Ha! I dunno though, that headline is a bit daft.

Interesting Seattle story, especially with Sacramento being basically on the clock with regard to a new arena. Would personally love to see both Seattle and Vancouver back in. The former I suspect will happen at some point, the latter not (despite the strong Canadian dollar, probably their best selling point). Wouldn't want to see more than 30 teams though so not sure how it all pans out. Can't quite fathom why the NBA are so desperate to stay in New Orleans personally, little real history of basketball success, they're already 1 failed franchise in down there.

I tend to have a soft spot for Seattle teams and I'm moving there in the summer so a Seattle based NBA team would be superb for me!!

For anyone interested Hawks @ Bulls is currently live on ESPN. Approaching the end of the first and it's 33-17 Bulls

[Christophe]

It really is amazing that they cannot handle an Asian basketball player though.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

This looks liks another easy Bulls win....64-45 half way through the 3rd.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

And as I say that the Hawks start the comeback

[Christophe]

Pitiful rebounding and general hustle effort from atl there. Just didn't want it enough. McGrady looks seriously out of shape as well. File under: laconic. I'd be hitting the gym and looking a bit more lively in general before sounding off about lack of minutes personally.

This post has been edited by Christophe: 22 February 2012 - 13:16

[Marshmallo]

The last thing I need is another sport to follow but I've started having a swatch at the NBA again after following it very loosely about 6-7 years ago. I'm sitting watching the Knicks-Heat game just now to see if this Lin character is all he's cracked up to be.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Marshmallo, on 24 February 2012 - 00:41, said:

The last thing I need is another sport to follow but I've started having a swatch at the NBA again after following it very loosely about 6-7 years ago. I'm sitting watching the Knicks-Heat game just now to see if this Lin character is all he's cracked up to be.

Ach it's one of the best.

[Marshmallo]

Shuggie_Murray7, on 24 February 2012 - 00:42, said:

Ach it's one of the best.

I think it could be if there weren't so many games to try and keep on top of.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

Marshmallo, on 24 February 2012 - 00:51, said:

I think it could be if there weren't so many games to try and keep on top of.

Well it becomes easier once you pick a team to follow and learn the divisions.

[Marshmallo]

Shuggie_Murray7, on 24 February 2012 - 00:57, said:

Well it becomes easier once you pick a team to follow and learn the divisions.

Aye I'd imagine so. As I say, just starting to look at it again after years away.