Month: March 2016

NBA Graveyard 2016: Where the Suns Don’t Shine

~ dnathanfati ~ 1 Comment

It’s March and that means the season is effectively over for a number of NBA teams. We’ll be picking through the remains of the fakers, pretenders and never-had-a-chancers to determine what went wrong. More importantly, what can be salvaged going into next season and beyond? Cuz the great thing about the NBA is even when all is lost, the dead still have hope. There’s always room for wild optimism thanks to coaching carousels, the siren song of the big free agent, the franchise-saving Draft pick, the unknown potential of young assets and blind faith. 

Here lies…LaMarcus Aldridge’s bridesmaids…err…the Phoenix Suns. Current record: 17-46. Projected finish (per FiveThirtyEight): 24-58.

grave image

Postmortem: The 2015-16 season couldn’t have gone much worse for Phoenix, and we all should’ve seen it coming. Continue reading →

The NBA: A Game of Misconceptions

~ dnathanfati ~ 4 Comments

I was out for dinner earlier this week with some of my dad’s friends, all white men of a certain age. We were going to that night’s Dallas Stars – Detroit Red Wings game and a couple of the guys were Detroit fans. As tends to happen when I’m present, the conversation turned to pro basketball. I asked if they were fans of the Pistons, and the answers were predictable. Though being die-hard Red Wings, Tigers and even Lions fans, both guys didn’t follow the Pistons much anymore. Back when the Pistons were the Bad Boys, now that was a greater time, I was told. Here are some excerpts from the conversation that followed:

“Bill Laimbeer was just misunderstood.” Hmm. Interesting take.

“Don’t get me started on how the league changed the rules to help Jordan and the Bulls.” I’m from Chicago. This sentiment made my skin crawl.

“When it comes to basketball, I’m more interested in the college game.” Nails on the proverbial chalkboard.

“Nobody after the Bad Boy Pistons has ever played any defense in the NBA.” There it is. The clincher. Continue reading →