Brady Unlimited III: Wolverines in the NFL & NFL News

[iam416]

I'll also go on record as saying I really love the way the Golden State Warriors play basketball and still, to this day, detest the Reilly-fication of the NBA. Some people enjoyed those 82-79 playoff games. GREAT DEFENSE!!!! I was not one of them and I pretty much just didn't watch.

Watching some of these teams play offense these days is spectacular. Likewise, for CBB, I was happy that the 2013 Aaron Craft Buckeyes grinded their way to a lot of success, but woof -- there are a lot of other teams I'd rather watch play.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Get right with the pre-shot clock days of the four corners...

[iam416]

Get right with curling...

Heh. I hear the ice is too manicured and smooth these days -- makes for way higher scoring! Of course, I'd rather share a life raft in the Pacific with The Wizard and his spawn than watch one second of that monstrosity.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Bon voyage!

[iam416]

disturbing

[hack]

Well, with GSW often a pullup 25-footer 5 seconds into the shot-clock is a good shot, becuase Curry transcends. That's not classic basketball beauty. If you profess to like offense you would have preferred the Spurs of a few years back, which IMO was the most beautiful offense I've ever seen. No one player was good enough to transcend, so they played as a unit.

I personally enjoyed that previous period of basketball as well. The game has changed and it won't go back, but those were times when every basket was earned, and that's no longer the case.

Anyhow, you will all embrace curling soon enough, if you are lucky enough to be in one of the 11th to 15th provinces. It is to be played, not watched.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Curling = Shuffleboard on Ice on Steroids

[iam416]

The Spurs had guys who could score in one-v-one situations. They were a very good team. They just weren't as good at scoring as GSW. They didn't space the court the same way (for obvious reasons) and they didn't stress the defense in the same way. Some may prefer to watch Duncan post up or hold the ball on the wing for 5 seconds before shooting a 15-ft bank shot after several jab steps. Then again, some probably also enjoyed watch Mark Jackson slowly back down a smaller point guard from the 3 point line to the block.

[hack]

Curling = shuffleboard+beer. If we went to the rink this Friday with a six pack per person we'd have a fucking blast.

Except talent. He would find a way to disapprove.

[iam416]

I thoroughly enjoy playing shuffleboard so I can't imagine why I wouldn't like playing curling. Watching it, however, is an entirely different story.

I still love to play basketball, though I'm mostly resigned to coaching the game these days. I loved to play all my life including the 90s when the NBA had been turned into a hideous unwatchable sport. Didn't mean I watched that trash.

[THE_WIZARD_]

If Talent was curling he would wanna be those guys with the brushes looking like they are rubbing one out...

[hack]

They weren't as good at scoring as GSW, but otherwise I don't think that's accurate. Duncan wasn't a dominant scorer for most of the back half of his career. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but when I said "a few years back", as in ``during this era", I meant the era that followed the Riley era. You'd mark it by the end of handchecking after the Pistons won. After a few years the game was clearly on the path to pace/space, and the Spurs team I'm talking about emerged. Their big three in their 30s and past their prime, so none of them able to take over a game for more than a quarter at most. But they played together for so long, and in a system with so much continuity, that they developed that beautiful passing offense. GSW can also do that, but often isn't forced to because of greater one-on-one capabilities.

IMO this is good fodder for an NFL debate. The NBA has gone back and forth on handchecking over the years in a continual attempt to strike an O/D balance (or if you're a conspiracy theorist, to enable Michael Jordan). That's been a good thing. The game has it's problems, but a reasonable O/D balance isn't one of them.

[iam416]

If Talent was curling he would wanna be those guys with the brushes looking like they are rubbing one out...

I believe that positions is called the Douchebag Canuck

[hack]

If Talent was curling he would wanna be those guys with the brushes looking like they are rubbing one out...

That'll be you, if you ever hit puberty. Until then you'll be outside pretending to be Harry Potter.

[iam416]

Re Spurs -- they've been so good for so long it wasn't clear. If you're talking their last title season when Parker was young 30s and Duncan and Ginobli were mid-30s (and they had an emerging Kawhi), then, yes, they didn't have a go-to scorer -- they just had a ton of guys who could score.

WRT Golden State -- I mean, they basically try to do what Beilein does. They're 4 out and in some cases they can be 5 out. They are remarkably versatile and flexible on the perimeter. They fit together brilliantly and share the ball. Popovich and the Spurs are more comparable to, say, the 2011-12 Buckeyes who worked through very good post play to get everyone shots and scoring chances. I personally prefer the GSW style.

NFL scoring is fairly constant. There were two significant changes -- when they allowed DBs to mug the shit out of players and when they ceased that. That happened in the 70s. NFL scoring this season was fairly consistent or close to what's been for the past 35 years. It's actually been declining a bit since 2013. What, I think, you're most likely to see in the NFL is a game where really great QBs are very hard to stop at this point in time and where really great QBs -- or even pretty good QBs are in low quantity. So you have teams that can score and teams that have no chance.

But, scoring in football at every level under the NFL has gone up. That's the game these days. There isn't really any changing it. So, that's what I mean -- make your peace with points or don't watch it. Last night was as good as offensive play as you'll see.