04/25/24
August 05, 2014
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Looks like Kevin Love will be going to Cleveland by way of Philadelphia.
posted by yerfatma at 10:53 AM on August 05, 2014
The City of 'Notherly Love
posted by beaverboard at 11:25 AM on August 05, 2014
So Cleveland trades away it's two #1 picks to land Kevin Love?
No pressure, man.
posted by grum@work at 11:42 AM on August 05, 2014
Yeah, I can't imagine the weight of replacing Anthony Bennett.
The quickening evolution of NFL tactics.
posted by yerfatma at 11:48 AM on August 05, 2014
Re: NFL tactics -
As Table Three shows, games lost to injury have risen steadily over four years
That's putting it mildly. Injuries are up 20% in 4 years, with an almost 10% jump from 2010 to 2011 alone.
posted by beaverboard at 12:55 PM on August 05, 2014
Like the article says though, there's no way to tell how much of that is more injuries and how much of it is NFL teams being more cautious. I mean we could guess at a ratio of 100% to 0%, but that would be irresponsible.
posted by yerfatma at 02:24 PM on August 05, 2014
Also, Gregg Popovich is the coolest (which is not to take any credit away from Becky Hammon).
posted by yerfatma at 04:26 PM on August 05, 2014
Looks like Kevin Love will be going to Cleveland by way of Philadelphia.
I thought they'd be be a 50 win team before and I think they'll crush the East now. Losing Wiggins hurts them about 3-4 years from now but there's a significant chance that Wiggins never gets as good as Love is right now. The Cavs butchered LeBron's first go around by overpaying for marginal or over the hill talent. This is different, Kevin Love is just entering his prime and is already a top 5-10 player.
So Cleveland trades away it's two #1 picks to land Kevin Love?
Anthony Bennet had such a horrible year that his value is well below what you would normally see for a #1 pick. I mean, it was nearly Adam Morrison bad.
posted by tron7 at 04:46 PM on August 05, 2014
Bennett is a young big who, like all talented young bigs of current generation, spend a year in college and come into the NBA completely unprepared. Don't count him out yet, he has size and athleticism. His position takes a lot longer to master than others.
Morrison played 3 years in college and posted gaudy numbers in a bad conference inflating his value. Non-athletic skinny guys who can do nothing else but shoot are a bad gamble.
posted by cixelsyd at 09:56 PM on August 05, 2014
How many good NBA players do you know who started off with a year that bad? I'm struggling to think of any examples at all. Would I completely give up on him? No, but I also wouldn't think twice about trading him for a top ten player.
posted by tron7 at 01:42 AM on August 06, 2014
Andrew Bynum comes to mind, though he only had a few strong seasons before the wheels came off.
posted by rcade at 07:57 AM on August 06, 2014
Westbrook was a liability at first. It might have gotten overlooked a bit because the team was just moving and getting resettled, etc.
posted by beaverboard at 08:29 AM on August 06, 2014
Don't count him out yet, he has size and athleticism.
You're at least half right.
posted by yerfatma at 10:03 AM on August 06, 2014
Westbrook was a liability at first.
Westbrook wasn't good his rookie year but he was far from a disaster. Anthony Bennett's season was on a different level of suck.
Andrew Bynum comes to mind
It's 300 minutes from an 18 year old but it's still a good example of a player having a horrible rookie season and turning into an all star. It's not quite as bad as Bennett's rookie season but it's close enough.
posted by tron7 at 10:40 AM on August 06, 2014
Ecclestone won't be tried for bribery because he basically paid the government lots of money (not bribery). Uh, OK.