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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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The Marc Gasol All-Stars

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  • The Marc Gasol All-Stars

    http://grantland.com/features/the-marc-gasol-all-stars/
    Zach Lowe

    The Marc Gasol All-Stars

    With the midseason NBA stuff behind us, let’s break down the most watchable players in the league
    by Zach Lowe on March 4, 2014
    We’re done with the NBA geek’s midseason triathlon: the bleary-eyed madness of All-Star Weekend, the salary-cap gymnastics of the trade deadline, and the brain-bending MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. It’s time to burn the pocket protectors and have some fun with our second-annual celebration of my favorite players to watch in the NBA this season. Let’s get all official and give this column a name: the Marc Gasol All-Stars.
    Gasol isn’t on the team this year, since he has missed 23 games and is still playing himself back into peak trickster watchability. That’s part of the fun in this list — injuries, age, and plain old miserable play will strip away several regular candidates, while new names will rise up in their place.
    Reminder: We use the same rules as the fans and coaches in selecting the 12-man All-Star rosters. I’ve tried to steer away from actual All-Stars and superstars, since there is no real value in anyone telling you it might be enjoyable to check out this Kevin Durant dude.1
    Starters

    G Goran Dragic (cocaptain): I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: Dragic has been the most electrifying player to watch in the NBA this season, full stop. It is crazy to watch Dragic today and remember that his earliest NBA coaches had to urge him out of what seemed an ingrained timidity.
    You want to see perhaps the most fearless performances in the NBA this season? Cue up the Suns’ two-game sweep of Indiana and watch, jaw agape, as Dragic sizes up Roy Hibbert near the basket, puts his head down, and zooms right the **** at the league’s best rim protector. Hibbert scares the bejesus out of everyone. LeBron developed a floater for use exclusively against Hibbert, and he rarely goes to the rim against the big fella until the last two minutes of a close game in which Indiana has smashed the other parts of Miami’s offense to pieces.
    Dragic didn’t give a crap. He just went right at Hibbert, and everyone else in his way this season. And the rim attacks highlight what makes Dragic so fun to watch: He’s effective both at full throttle in the open court and at slower speeds in tighter spaces. Watch his pick-and-roll drives in the half court against Hibbert and the league’s other beasts, and you’ll see Dragic use a hesitation dribble to get the big man to stand up straight — allowing Dragic to blow right past him. And if that doesn’t work, Dragic might continue on to the rim with a lefty drive, dip his right shoulder into the big’s chest, clear just enough space, and loft a lefty layup over the backpedaling post player.
    He’s a wizard at all those small things — the killer step-back midrange jumper, prodding changes of direction on the pick-and-roll that confuse a defense trying to suss out help assignments on the back line:

    Dragic should have made the All-Star team in the end. What a splendid season.
    G Lance Stephenson: Stephenson’s game has taken on a bit of entitlement as he has felt his star rise over the last three months. He threw an on-court trash-talk tantrum against the Nets after the league’s coaches (correctly) snubbed him from the All-Star Game, and he’s let a bit of New York City highlight-chasing reenter his game — the high-step dribbles in transition, crazy behind-the-back passes, and meandering forays into the paint. Indiana’s meltdown in Orlando just before the All-Star break began with an irresponsible Stephenson cross-court behind-the-back pass in transition, and though lots of other stuff happened after that to doom Indiana, the Pacers were still quietly shaking their heads over Stephenson’s judgment hours after the game.

    I never bought the notion that Indiana acquired Evan Turner as some sort of Stephenson free-agency insurance; Stephenson is much better than Turner, and the Pacers should use whatever means they have2 to re-sign Stephenson this summer instead of being content with Turner. But it wouldn’t shock me if the Pacers had the notion that Stephenson might at least see Turner as a threat and clean up his game in response.
    The uptick in crazy has only made Stephenson more fun to watch from a neutral perspective. His rampages down the open court are terrifying, he backs down from no one on defense, and he has introduced a soft touch and subtle creativity to his off-the-bounce game around the rim.
    If you ever get a chance to sit near the court at a Pacers road game, watch the way Stephenson interacts with fans who taunt him. He’s gregarious about it! He’ll cup his ears to hear more, feign anger, smile and applaud some good zingers, and even throw up his hands and make a sad face in mock offense. Just a great time.
    FC Chandler Parsons: Watching Giannis Antetokounmpo now reminds me of watching Parsons’s rookie season in 2011-12. No one knew quite what to expect of Parsons in the NBA. He was the SEC Player of the Year, but he was “only” a second-round pick, and there was some division in Houston’s front office about whether he was the right selection at no. 38.
    Watching him even in the first week of that season, one thing was clear: This kid could make next-level NBA passes, often in the tight confines of a half-court offense. That was no guarantee of success. But it showed that Parsons could process the speed of the NBA game, understand its spacing, and make advanced in-the-moment reads many veterans couldn’t. That boded well for Parsons’s ability to learn other NBA skills.
    Antetokounmpo is so young, and so raw, but he can make the same sorts of passes. That is reason for optimism.
    Parsons has indeed morphed into a wonderful all-around offensive player, though big holes remain in his game on defense. He’s still a very good passer, and though he’s not the speediest guy on the dribble, he has a fantastic sense of when Houston’s ball movement has bent an opposing defense just enough to open a driving crease that he can attack off the catch:
    Parsons’s feet are moving before he even catches the ball, and he often gets a head start by running toward the ball while it’s in the air on its way to him. He’s a killer 3-point shooter who doesn’t need much space to launch, and his NBA intelligence translates into smart off-ball cutting. He might have the best pump fake in the league, always flirting with up-and-down violations on his tippy-toes.
    FC Paul Millsap: Millsap might not be elite at any one thing on offense, but he has worked himself up to B-level mastery of just about everything. That makes for a very tough guy to guard, especially for the league’s plodding big guys.
    Mike Budenholzer, a shooting zealot, has unleashed Millsap’s 3-point game, and that has only made Millsap a more difficult cover over larger swaths of territory. Run him off the line, and he has a surprisingly nifty off-the-dribble game, filled with crossovers, step-backs, and hesitation feints. That serves Millsap well against bigger defenders who aren’t vulnerable to his bullying back-to-the-basket game in the post; Millsap can simply catch the ball, face up, toss in a couple of jab steps, and go to work. He’s not an explosive athlete, but he’s springier than you think, and he’ll unleash the occasional vicious dunk.
    He can do just about anything on the pick-and-roll — pop for a 3, slide down for a midrange jumper, catch and drive, or cut all the way to the rim like Tyson Chandler. And, hell, he may decide not to even set a pick in the first place:
    He’s a skilled passer and a gritty defender long among the very best big men at swiping steals. Millsap has turned himself into a Swiss Army knife in the frontcourt.
    FC Joakim Noah (cocaptain): A straight-up inspiration going through the very best stretch of his NBA life over the last two months. A lot has been written about the ugly issues within the Bulls — their mishandling of medical issues with Luol Deng and Omer Asik, the Vinny Del Negro–John Paxson shove-o-rama, the tension between the front office and Tom Thibodeau, etc.
    But there is something very right with this team and its culture, and among the players, that begins with Noah’s selfless excellence. Chicago is 19-9 since the Deng trade, and its mechanical offense has actually scored at an above-average rate over the team’s current 9-2 stretch.
    Noah has been one of the game’s great big-man passers for years, but what he’s doing now is ridiculous. He’s averaging about six assists per game over the last two months, and for the season, he has assisted on 23 percent of Chicago’s baskets while on the floor. Noah would become just the 11th player 6-foot-10 or taller to record an assist rate that high, per Basketball-Reference. He’s zipping the ball to backdoor cutters, pitching it to guys popping off screens, and lofting Taj Gibson pinpoint high-low dishes. He might be Chicago’s best transition ball handler.
    He’s never going to be a big scorer, but he keeps defenses honest with dribble drives from the elbow and post-ups against smaller defenders. He’s done all of this under a huge minutes burden, without sacrificing an ounce of his all-world defense and rebounding. Noah is the most important non-Thibs cog in Chicago’s maniacally perfect scheme, and it’s time to at least consider him for Defensive Player of the Year and lower-rung spots on five-man MVP ballots.
    Reserves

    G Kyle Korver: He’s still streaking, and if you ever want to enjoy an Atlanta game in a different way, just ignore the ball and watch Korver roam. You’ll see an entire defense bend toward a moving target, leaving open teammates in Korver’s wake and opening up driving lanes for Atlanta’s point guards.
    He is the league’s most powerful non-star decoy in late-game situations. There have been crunch-time possessions on which another Atlanta player has scored precisely because all five defenders — all five! — have their heads turned toward Korver, or to the other player that has just come open because of Korver’s movement. And Budenholzer has loosed Korver with creative handoff actions like this one:
    G Jamal Crawford: I’ve long picked on Crawford for his awful defense, but it’s time to laud him: Crawford has added some malleable efficiency and smart team defense to his annual package of spectacular highlights.
    Those highlights form the basis of his inclusion here — the ankle-breaking crossovers, crazy step-backs, and 3-point bombs Crawford has to launch off your television screen to get them over defenders. He has hit a solid 37 percent from deep this season and gotten to the line at a career-best rate, even while Doc Rivers has had to constantly shift Crawford’s role because of injuries. Crawford has worked as both a bench gunner, running pick-and-rolls and flying off screens near the elbow, and as a secondary off-ball option next to Chris Paul in the starting lineup.
    He’s still a bad defender. He can’t stay in front of anyone, bigger guards can destroy him in the post, and the Clippers have to hide him against the other team’s least threatening player. But away from the ball, Crawford has taken nicely to the strongside overload scheme Rivers imported from Boston. When he’s on the weak side, he understands when he has to shift into the paint on a help assignment, and he has generally timed those help-and-recover darts well.
    That might not sound like much, and being in the right place doesn’t mean Crawford will do what he’s supposed to do effectively when he gets there. But just having a body in good help position at the right moment can make an offensive player pause, and Crawford has been up to it so far.
    FC Channing Frye: Frye is the feel-good stand-in for all the league’s truly dangerous stretch power forwards — the no-brainer All-Stars too obvious to list here (Kevin Love, Dirk Nowitzki), and the slightly smaller version who has missed most of the season because of injury (Ryan Anderson).
    A lot of teams shoehorn facsimiles of the stretch power forward into the role. But some of those guys either don’t shoot 3-pointers well enough to be of much danger, or need so much time to release the long ball as to be irrelevant against dialed-in defenses. Some are really just taller wings an opponent can exploit in the post on the other end.
    But guys like Frye? They’re the real deal — big enough to defend power forwards (and centers, too, in Frye’s case), and with hyper-accurate 3-point shots they can release in an instant, and with a hand in their face. You have to scrap your entire game plan to account for these guys. Normally defend the pick-and-roll by having the big man guarding the screener drop down to protect the paint, like this?

    Can’t do that against Phoenix, because it leaves Frye wide open and/or forces a third defender to fly at him from one of the corners.

    Teams have to adapt by either switching defenders, creating two mismatches, or in some other way — perhaps by having Frye’s defender just stick to him, hoping other defenders can corral Dragic.
    None of those adaptations are comfortable. Frye isn’t a post-up beast, but he’s good enough to score over smaller guys. There’s a reason Phoenix has put up nearly 113 points per 100 possessions when Dragic and Frye play together — way better than Miami’s league-best overall mark. They have been the most productive pick-and-roll combination in the league, per John Schuhmann at NBA.com.
    Frye becomes dangerous just by setting a pick, and there are Phoenix baskets that happen three or four passes after that pick precisely because of how Frye’s initial screen scrambled the defense. A great comeback story.
    FC Shawn Marion: You can learn a lot about basketball watching the long-armed Marion, even in his twilight. Teams don’t guard him on the perimeter, even though he’s hoisting those T-Rex 3-pointers again. That cramps Dallas’s spacing, but Marion has found ways to compensate — cutting backdoor from the corner when his defender ignores him, flashing into the middle of the paint for goofy floaters, and just moving around the court in smart ways.
    He’s lost a step on defense, but he still has that massive wingspan, and the Mavs use him to guard four positions. He’ll go chest-to-chest with quicker wings on the perimeter, often swatting annoyingly at the ball like a cat going after yarn. He plays angles brilliantly.
    He is one of the league’s most interesting and versatile players, and his ability to play power forward has freed Rick Carlisle to juggle Nowitzki’s rest periods in optimal ways.3 We’re going to miss Marion when he’s gone. And by the way: He’s built a fascinating Hall of Fame case.
    FC Andrew Bogut: Bogut could make the team for defense alone, and not just because he’s mastered the art of concealing his dirty tricks from the officials.4 Bogut talks about “committing late” on defense. What he means: When a guard penetrates into the paint, Bogut will often stick to his own assignment or shift only halfway into help position. It will look as if the guard has a clean lane to the basket. Why is Bogut being so lazy!!???
    What he’s really trying to do: impose indecision. The ball handler knows Bogut will slide over at some point, and the fear of that can paralyze most driving guards. Bogut’s hesitation, meanwhile, means the rolling big man is covered. That kind of stasis in the middle allows Golden State’s other defenders to stick by their own assignments.
    Something has to give. Maybe the guard will surrender and launch a tough floater — exactly what Bogut wants. Maybe the little guy will find some bravery and go at the rim, at which point Bogut will shift into rim protector mode at the last possible moment and go for the block. A wily guard can try to slip a wraparound pass to Bogut’s man as Bogut is airborne, but those are tough dishes, and the Warriors will have help at the ready.
    There aren’t many big men with the combination of balletic footwork, smarts, and conviction to create these little cat-and-mouse games. He’s been outstanding on defense all season; opponents are shooting just 44 percent at the rim when Bogut is near both the basket and the shooter, one of the stingiest marks among all big men.
    He gets extra points for being able to bring the ball up, fancy interior passing, and always taking care to keep his shot blocks in bounds so the Dubs can retrieve them.
    WC Al Jefferson: Let’s make it official: We’re calling him Prof. Al Jefferson, PhD, Post-up University, from here on out. Big Al and Prof. Andre Miller are the only two players in the league to earn academic titles in this space.
    Professor Al5 is having perhaps the best all-around season of his career, carrying a heavier burden than ever for a Charlotte offense that dies without him. He’s still holding court on the left block, tricking hopeless fools with Randolphian footwork and the league’s most unfair two-handed pump fake.
    Charlotte has Jefferson doing things a bit differently on the margins,6 but the arsenal is the same — jump hooks, instant-release push shots, midrange jumpers, up-and-unders, and killer drop steps. Professor Al is shooting nearly 50 percent on post-ups, and here’s the remarkable thing: He never shoots left-handed, even when NBA fundamentals say he should. Take these floaters he likes to launch after spinning back to the left baseline:


    This is a textbook lefty shot, but Jefferson always shoots it righty, even though doing so brings the ball back into traffic. He’s still not a good defender, but he fits better in Charlotte’s conservative scheme. We’re going to remember Professor Al as a delightfully unique player — an old-school post-up wizard who never turns the ball over.
    WC Draymond Green: Green gets the last spot over a few guys whose entertainment value we’ve celebrated over the last year — Mike Conley, Patrick Beverley, James Johnson, Kyle O’Quinn, and others. Green can’t really shoot, and taller post-up guys can score over him on the block. But, holy hell, Green is tenacious on defense. He’s a brute to move in the post, and he has a fantastic pair of hands — both quick and strong. When Green reaches into traffic to chase a steal, he’s not just going to poke the ball away. He’s going to snatch it from you, keep possession, and take off on the break. He’s swiped two steals per 36 minutes this season, the seventh-highest mark among all players who have logged at least 1,000 minutes. The two-dozen such players who have cracked even 1.75 steals per 36 minutes are mostly guards.
    Green moves his feet well and almost never gets out of balance or proper position, even against quicker players. He’s also turned himself into a nifty interior passer:
    He’ll have to become a better jump-shooter to be a real heavy minutes rotation player, but Green has already earned a spot on this team.
    There's a little more to the article than this, but I bolded the Lance part. It's interesting to read what kind of fan interaction Lance has with his hecklers. I didn't know this and found it pretty funny.

    "I've got an idea--an idea so smart that my head would explode if I even began to know what I'm talking about." - Peter Griffin


  • #2
    Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

    If you ever get a chance to sit near the court at a Pacers road game, watch the way Stephenson interacts with fans who taunt him. He’s gregarious about it! He’ll cup his ears to hear more, feign anger, smile and applaud some good zingers, and even throw up his hands and make a sad face in mock offense. Just a great time.
    Wow. Awesome
    DG for 3

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    • #3
      Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

      Originally posted by DGPR View Post
      Stephenson’s game has taken on a bit of entitlement as he has felt his star rise over the last three months. He threw an on-court trash-talk tantrum against the Nets after the league’s coaches (correctly) snubbed him from the All-Star Game, and he’s let a bit of New York City highlight-chasing reenter his game — the high-step dribbles in transition, crazy behind-the-back passes, and meandering forays into the paint. Indiana’s meltdown in Orlando just before the All-Star break began with an irresponsible Stephenson cross-court behind-the-back pass in transition, and though lots of other stuff happened after that to doom Indiana, the Pacers were still quietly shaking their heads over Stephenson’s judgment hours after the game.
      Not awesome.

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      • #4
        Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

        Picking Dragic and Jefferson seems cliche. Granted they are not Leron, but pretty darn good.

        My list would include a guy like Taj Gibson or Robin Lopez. I love energy providing bigs.

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        • #5
          Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

          The only thing that really bothers me about some of Lance's antics (read behind the back passes), is that Hill and PG think they can do them too. Like that play Lance throws behind the back to Hill and Hill is all like, I can do that too, then precedes to throw the ball away.
          PG24: "Don't tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon!"

          RT @Hoya2aPacer "When I play this game I love. I play to make my teammates better. But I'm a mouther****er on defense."

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          • #6
            Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

            "I’ve tried to steer away from actual All-Stars and superstars..."

            Paul Millsap and Noah are on the list, and were all-stars this year.
            "It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

            ----------------- Reggie Miller

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            • #7
              Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

              Joakim becoming the clear favorite for center on First Team All NBA was not something I would have predicted.
              You Got The Tony!!!!!!

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              • #8
                Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

                I want to know his logic behind claiming Lance was "correctly" snubbed when someone like Joe Johnson gets in.
                Senior at the University of Louisville.
                Greenfield ---> The Ville

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                • #9
                  Re: The Marc Gasol All-Stars

                  While I wish all 23 year old were as mature as PG, people getting all bent up about Lance having some immaturity crack me up. Lance is 23, he's still an idiot.

                  The good thing is... he's an idiot in a good way. It's obvious deep-down that he's a team player and wants to win. He's got a bit of showmanship in him. It's not like... say.... Ricky Davis... who was just a selfish idiot. Lance is a good idiot; he'll win you some games, but once or twice a game he'll do something that just makes ya shake your head. I think he'll grow out of it sooner than later. The things he does just seem like youthful exuberance, a lot of silliness, but he gets serious when he needs to. He's already shown that he's reduced those silly moments dramatically over his young career. There's no reason to believe he won't still keep getting better about it. The thing is... some of that youthful recklessness is what makes him so devastatingly effective. If he were older, more mature, and more cautious, his game would likely lack a lot of the energy he has now.

                  It's not all that unlike PG going for world-rocking dunks that he clangs off the back of the rim in traffic, instead of just dunking the damn thing softly. Kids. They'll figure it out.

                  Lance is great entertainment. I think he *was* a snub for the very reason that he would've brought a metric **** ton of energy and entertainment to All-Star Weekend. He is absolutely built for the All-Star game.
                  Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 03-05-2014, 01:38 PM.
                  There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

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