Most NBA players and coaches use their time on the plane scouting the opposition, as they travel to away games, you would find them either sleeping on watching a game on their Macs/laptops.
Joakim Noah, like all of us basketball fans prefer to sleep.
NOAH ON SCOUTING: I WOULDN’T WATCH THAT SHIT
Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol was scouting the Toronto Raptors en route to Canada for an eagerly anticipated game between the Raptors and Bulls, two of the high-flying sides in the East.
The Spaniard was watching the Raptors 120-88 demolition of the Philadelphia 76ers and Noah gave his own account of events.
Via Bruce Arthur on Twitter:
Joakim Noah says Pau Gasol was watching Raptors-Sixers on the plane, to scout. Noah was impressed, because, “I wouldn’t watch that shit.”
NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTS TO INCLUDE ALL PLAYERS
About time too.
Voting for the big Feb.15 game will start December 11, and conclude January 19.
Via the press release:
The NBA All-Star Ballot presented by Sprint had previously been determined by a panel of broadcasters and media members who cover the NBA, and contained 60 players from each conference. Fans will continue to select two guards and three frontcourt players when choosing the starters for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, but will now be afforded the opportunity to choose from the entire NBA player pool, as opposed to 36 frontcourt players and 24 guards per conference.
“Our players are the most exciting athletes in the world,” president of basketball operations Rod Thorn said Thursday. “Our choice to include all NBA players is both a tribute to their skills and achievements, and another way to engage our fans in the full experience of NBA All-Star by giving them every option.”
MCW WATCHES ‘ELLEN’ TO DEAL WITH STRESSES
Last season’s Rookie of the Year, Philadelphia 76ers Michael Carter Williams penned an insightful piece on the Players Tribune about life on a team that ended up being the league’s worst.
We’ll have more on this over the coming days but check out a segment..
Via The Players Tribune:
Losing sucks. I don’t care how much money you make or what stats you put up. If you’re competitive enough to make it to the NBA, losing is absolutely brutal. If it’s a night game, you get home around midnight and your mind is racing. It’s almost impossible to sleep. You keep visualizing every game-changing play, trying to figure out what you could’ve done better. You beat yourself up. You try not to look at your texts. If SportsCenter comes on, it only makes you mad. […] Every guy in the league deals with losing in his own way. Some come home, turn on the Xbox and try to get revenge on NBA 2K. The vets might watch a movie with the kids or jump in the hyperbaric chamber. The more progressive guys are turning to meditation and yoga.
I’m too impatient for that stuff. For me, it’s all about Ellen. I just think she’s awesome. So every weekday at 4 p.m., my stepfather and I pause the basketball talk, grab some snacks and watch The Ellen Degeneres Show. It might sound funny, but this is one of the ways I’m able to get away from the frustration of losing. Last winter, when we went on a near-historic losing streak, I was not a fun guy to be around.
Grown men are going to go out and purposely mail it in for a one-in-four shot at drafting somebody who might someday take their job? Nope.
In the middle of the playoff race, a race we were decidedly not in, it seemed like the entire media spotlight was on us. And trust me, I get it. We had lost 26 games in a row. Of course, our roster had lost a combined 200-plus games to injury and we had used more than 20 different players in the lineup since opening night. That didn’t seem to be a part of the conversation. All anybody was talking about was “tanking.”
