2013-2014 Official NBA Thread

[Al Bundy]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...4-nba-schedule

With the Schedule released today, I figured it would be a good time to start the thread.

The NBA released its 2013-2014 schedule on Tuesday in a televised special on NBATV alongside a release on NBA.com and its team websites.

The season kicks off Tuesday, October 29th as Miami hosts the Chicago Bulls in Derrick Rose's expected return to the court. Then it's the Battle of LA as the Lakers host the Clippers. It could be the return of Kobe Bryant from his Achilles injury he suffered last spring, and will be the regular season debut of Doc Rivers as the Clippers' newest head coach.

It's a massive gamble by the NBA, considering Rose's struggles returning from his ACL injury suffered in the 2012 playoffs and Bryant's more recent Achilles surgery. If those players were to miss the opening night, it's going to make for a very underwhelming opening night of basketball, regardless of the markets involved for ratings.

Opening week continues on Thursday with the Bulls hosting the Knicks in what is likely to be Rose's return to the United Center in the regular season. The Knicks will be on a back to back, opening the season on Wednesday vs. the Bucks. Thursday night the revamped Warriors visit the Clippers, who are clearly the hot team, with two national appearances in the first three days.

Opening week concludes Friday with the Nets' home opener vs. the Heat, followed by another Lakers home game, this time vs. the defending Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs.

On the NBA's biggest regular season day, Christmas Day, starts with the Nets hosting Chicago, followed by the scoring-champ rematch of Carmelo Anthony vs. Kevin Durant as the Thunder visit Madison Square Garden to face the Knicks. Then in the main event, the Heat play the Lakers at Staples Center. Dwight Howard joins the Christmas fun as the Rockets travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs. And in the night cap, the Clippers visit Oracle Arena to take on Steph Curry and the Warriors.

Monday, January 20th continues the NBA's tradition of making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a huge basketball event, with four games on the schedule. Brooklyn travels across the bridge to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, followed by the Grizzlies hosting the Pelicans, the Lakers taking on the Bulls at the United Center, and the Pacers facing the Warriors in the bay to cap off the night.

The Lakers first meet Dwight Howard on November 13th in Houston, and again on January 14th. They first host Howard at Staples Center on February 19th, and again on April 8th.

The NBA Finals rematches occur on January 26th in Miami and March 6th in San Antonio. Will Gregg Popovich rest his starters? It's not a back to back, as the Spurs face Atlanta on the 24th, but it is in the middle of a three-game road trip.

Despite the departure of Dwight Howard, the Lakers keep the max number of nationally televised (non-NBA TV) games in the league at 25, tied with the Knicks and Heat. The Clippers have 21 nationally televised games, while the defending Western Champs, the Spurs, only have 15. The Bulls jump to 24 national games, with the league banking on Rose's return to carry audiences. The Thunder also feature on national TV 24 times.

Houston, with newly-signed Dwight Howard and James Harden, feature 20 games on national television, a pretty low number given the star power. The Mavericks won the NBA title in 2011, and now have just eight national TV appearances. The Warriors meanwhile jump to 17 games, while Eastern Conference finalist Indiana only appears 10 time next season. To put that in perspective, the Denver Nuggets appear 13 times.

The rest of the schedule is at the link.

[Anyong Bluth]

Originally Posted by Fruit Ninja

Whats really crazy is that 1-7 in the west is pretty much set in stone for the play offs. Season isnt even halfways over and play off spots are pretty much already locked in.

Terrible season for the NBA.

Just curious, what is your 1 through 8 in the West for the playoffs?

[dirk digler]

Heat trade Joel Anthony to the Celtics along with a first round pick and a second round pick, Celtics send Crawford and Marshon Brooks to Golden State, and the Heat get Toney Douglas.

Rondo is back on Friday so time to unload some guards

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Heat trade Joel Anthony to the Celtics along with a first round pick and a second round pick, Celtics send Crawford and Marshon Brooks to Golden State, and the Heat get Toney Douglas.

Rondo is back on Friday so time to unload some guards

What the hell? Toney Douglas is worth all that?

[mcaj22]

Steez is a ballhog that will throw a huge fit when hes not getting any run at GS

Brooks is never used, though he should be

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by SNR

What the hell? Toney Douglas is worth all that?

This trade was about dumping salary, GS getting some guard depth, and Rondo coming back

The Celtics get the seldom-used 6-foot-9 Anthony and the two draft picks: a second-rounder and a protected first-round pick acquired initially from Philadelphia that could become a second-rounder.

Douglas was averaging 3.7 points in 24 games with Golden State.
The trade will save the Heat $6.4 million in luxury taxes and remaining salary this season and frees them on the $3.8 million they owed Anthony for next season. Depending on the Heat's salary situation for next season, the deal could end up saving the team more than $15 million in salary and luxury taxes for a player who played just 37 minutes this season.

The Heat are sending the Celtics a 76ers first-round pick that is lottery protected for the next two years, that will turn into two second-round picks if not conveyed. The Heat are also sending their own 2016 second-round pick to Boston.

The Celtics add to their pile of draft picks and give up a couple of guys who were not going to be re-signed after the season. The trickle-down effect means more playing time for newly acquired Jerryd Bayless and backup point guard Phil Pressey.

[KevB]

Nice trade for GS, assuming they can keep him playing well despite getting half the minutes he was getting in Boston. If they can get Ezeli and Jermaine O'Neal back healthy and everyone else stays upright, look out.

[Al Bundy]

Decent trade. The Warriors are a long way off from being serious contenders though.

[RustShack]

Man why couldn't Cleveland do better than Mike Brown. They need a new GM and coaching staff.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by KevB

Nice trade for GS, assuming they can keep him playing well despite getting half the minutes he was getting in Boston. If they can get Ezeli and Jermaine O'Neal back healthy and everyone else stays upright, look out.

Nope, the refs will keep them down.

[RealSNR]

So the Kings are playing the Wolves for the first time since the Derrick Williams and Mbah a Moute swap trade. Williams apparently said he's going to play extra hard tonight against his former team. He's got a chip on his shoulder and feels slighted that the Wolves gave up on him like they did.

I'm watching this game and sure enough he's hustling harder than I think I've ever seen him in a Wolves uniform. He's not a bad player, so it's not exactly surprising to see him having some initial success off the bench for Sacramento (6 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, he's 5/6 with 12 points) but I just think if he ever got as amped up as he is now consistently over his career with the Wolves, things would have turned out a hell of a lot differently for him in Minnesota. And that's given the fact that he's had some 30 point games for us.

[Al Bundy]

TERRIBLE loss to a piece of shit Nuggets team, what made it worse was that old piece of shit Hubie Brown spent the entire game sucking Nugget dick.

[lcarus]

I thought Orlando was gonna put an end to the skid against shitty Chicago tonight. Triple overtime. Jameer Nelson was red hot all night. Tis a shame that Big Baby Davis is an idiot and tried to be a hero at the end of the 3rd OT. Down by 1 with 7 seconds left, and this big fat idiot airballs a 3 pointer. facepalm

On the plus side, Victor Oladipo is going to be great.

[GoChargers]

Great comeback by the Clippers from down 17 midway through the 4th to beat the Mavs. The Mavs taking a page from Mark Jackass' book and trying to bait Blake into an ejection ended up flipping the momentum completely.

[kcxiv]

1 and a half games from last place in the West. You can do it Lakers!!! This epic suck is like the Spurs in the late 90's that got them Tim Duncan! Lakers fans approve!

[DaKCMan AP]

3rd straight loss for Miami......but now it's Der Oden time!