2010-2011 NBA Season Thread

[Tyche]

SHOULD THE RIP MOVE BE LEGAL?

Kevin Durant may be the nicest superstar in the NBA, and he certainly has the most squeaky-clean public image. He doesn’t say the wrong things, he’s a quiet assassin on the court, he’s young, he’s exciting to watch, and he plays for a small-market team with great fans.
In fact, the only time you’ll ever see a casual fan actually get mad at Kevin Durant is when he uses his “rip” move, the sneakiest offensive maneuver in the game. When Durant has the ball in the triple-threat position, he likes to bring it down low and dare the opposing defender to stick their hand out instead of giving him space. If the defender takes the bait, Durant swings his arms up in a quick modified shooting motion, and more often than not is awarded with three free throws.
There’s no doubt that the rip move is a key part of Durant’s game. Durant averages 3.7 attempts at the rim per game (data courtesy of HoopData.com) and 8.7 free throws per game, which means he averages 2.35 free throws for every attempt at the rim. Let’s look at that in comparison to other high-volume perimeter scorers:
- LeBron James: 1.48 free throws per attempt at the rim
- Dwyane Wade: 1.25 free throws per attempt at the rim
-Derrick Rose: 1.03 free throws per attempt at the rim
- Russell Westbrook: 1.13 free throws per attempt at the rim
- Kobe Bryant: 2.00 free throws per attempt at the rim
As you can see, Durant is getting fouled on jump shots a LOT more than most high-volume perimeter scorers. Some of that can be explained by the fact that Durant is an extremely dangerous jump shooter — there’s a reason why Kobe Bryant also has a very high FTA/shot at the rim ratio. Still, Durant’s ratio is significantly higher than Kobe’s, and Kobe’s had nearly an extra decade to develop tricks to fool defenders.
So Durant’s “rip” move is clearly effective. But is it underhanded? Daily Thunder’s Royce Young chimes in:

Last night against the Warriors, Durant got two calls with [the rip move]. One in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer on Dorell Wright and then a big one in overtime on David Lee which gave KD three shots and put OKC up one with a minute left.
So as you might imagine, Golden State Warrior coach Keith Smart was not a fan of the move. He told the AP: “That shouldn’t be a call because defensive players, you’re trying to tell your guys to get up on a good player,” Smart said. “If the player’s going to bait you into a foul—and I understand it’s a rule, so there’s nothing we can do about it—but … who has the right to the space? We’ve got to come to a conclusion.”
Who has the right to space? Are you kidding me? What does that even mean? If Thabo gets up super tight on Monta Ellis — like really tight, touching even — and Ellis puts the ball on the floor and drives hard around him and Thabo can’t move his feet fast enough, thus picking up a blocking foul, is Keith Smart saying that shouldn’t be a foul? I mean, who has the right to the space? Ellis created the contact, Thabo was just playing defense. Right?

Young certainly has a point — players exploiting the rules to draw fouls is certainly not new, and it’s commonplace in many situations. Just like all professional athletes, basketball players do all they can to get any sort of advantage within the official rules. However, there is a difference between the “rip” move and drawing a foul off of a pump fake or a blocking charge — those defenders are, in theory, moving.
Everyone agrees that a defender who creates contact by moving into an offensive player attempting to score should be a foul. We’ve also come to accept that an offensive player who tricks a defensive player into creating contact — think Kobe Bryant up-faking and jumping straight up into a defender flying at him, Dwayne Wade getting a help defender to lurch towards the rim before jumping into his chest, or Chauncey Billups selling contact with a perimeter defender who didn’t get above the screen quickly enough.
The rip move, however, is an offensive player creating contact with a stationary defender that put himself in what is perhaps a bad position. Maybe that’s a small distinction, but it seems to me that it’s what makes the “rip” move just a little bit different than the rule exploits we’re already familiar with.
Still, one thing is for certain: Durant is going to use that rip move, and use it well, until the refs stop calling it, so defenders should be careful where they put their arms while guarding Durant.

[6souls]

NEW YORK -- The union for NBA players filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, seeking an injunction that would prevent owners from imposing a lockout when the current collective bargaining agreement expires June 30.

The players' union, less than a month after receiving the latest formal proposal from the owners, is accusing the owners of negotiating in bad faith.

The complaint, in part, alleges the NBA is "making harsh, inflexible, and grossly regressive 'takeaway' demands that the NBA knows are not acceptable to the Union."

The complaint further alleges the NBA is engaging in "classic 'take it or leave it' and surface bargaining" with the intent of running out the clock on the CBA, "until the NBA locks out the represented employees in order to coerce them into accepting the NBA's harsh and regressive demands."

The NBA issued a statement in response to the complaint.

"There is no merit to the charge filed today by the Players Association with the National Labor Relations Board, as we have complied -- and will continue to comply -- with all of our obligations under the federal labor laws. It will not distract us from our efforts to negotiate in good faith a new collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association," the league said in a statement.

Sources have told ESPN.com that the players were so infuriated by the owners' latest proposal, which seeks a nearly 40 percent rollback in existing contracts over three years and a hard salary cap, that the union would explore a variety of legal options before presenting another formal counterproposal.

The sides are scheduled to have a formal bargaining session with the owners' labor committee and the players' executive board during the NBA Finals in Dallas or Oklahoma City.

Tuesday's filing with the NLRB marked a sharp turn in negotiating strategy after the sides had held several rounds of informal discussions over the past several weeks.

The filing comes just eight days after the death of the union's No. 2 executive, Gary Hall, and moves the dispute into a different forum through which the players will attempt to gain negotiating leverage.

In a statement, the union said the unfair practices included failure to bargain in good faith, demanding huge financial takeaways from prior contracts without offering concessions in return, bypassing the Union to deal directly with players and threatening an unlawful lockout.

"We have urged the Board to investigate this matter quickly and to seek an injunction against the NBA's unlawful bargaining practices and its unlawful lockout threat," the union said.

Just a week ago, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver struck a conciliatory tone in discussing the negotiations, going so far as to say it would be "irrational" for the sides to allow the dispute to evolve into a work stoppage.

The NBA has not had a protracted labor dispute since the summer of 1998, when a lockout extended into February of 1999 and forced the league to play a 50-game season.

But owners have taken a hard-line stance in the current negotiations, saying they need a completely restructured system to give them a bigger slice of the financial pie. Commissioner David Stern said the league expects to lost $300 million in the current season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/n...ory?id=6584220

[archibaldcrane]

Commissioner David Stern said the league expects to lost $300 million in the current season.

Jesus Christ.

[Kyo]

Missing dunks and freethrows thats how you win championships.

[Rhinox]

Just like the heat to give me false hope. Fuckers are terrible winners.

[archibaldcrane]

Point God 2-9 with 0 assists and 2 turnovers...and the Bulls are winning.

God this series is awful.

[Tyche]

How much you think it kills Rose to see Mario Chalmers shit on his championship dreams yet again?

[Dimmauk]

How much you think it kills Rose to see Mario Chalmers shit on his championship dreams yet again?

LOL

[Tyche]

Boozer the Flash

[Rhinox]

How much you think it kills Rose to see Mario Chalmers shit on his championship dreams yet again?

Rofllmao

[Drex]

the sad part is that he is probably more useful cherry-picking

[Drex]

so stupid that's an and-one

[Kyo]

Miami goes up 7 chance to take it to 9-10 and turn over 4 times in a row, once again should be up double digits in this game.

[wyrmtung]

Catching up to live TV. Just saw Joel Anthony pose for a poster. Whooooooooooo!

That dunk plus the Gibson dunks from game one, the Bulls are definitely winning the dunk contest so far.

[Drex]

lebron gunning for the league record in airballs

[wyrmtung]

I wanna see Kurt Thomas and Juwan Howard go 1:1 for a few possessions.

[Dimmauk]

9.8 is Rose's FG%

[Kyo]

Bosh doing his best Fisher impression.

[wyrmtung]

Mike Miller owns this game. Has more buckets in this game (18 mins) than Korver has in the entire series (60+ mins). What happened to Mr. Clutch? Thought he owns the fourth statistically?

[wyrmtung]

Love this game. The lead keeps changing on nearly every possession.