Derrick Rose said some interesting things about the reason behind the decision to sit out certain games over the first couple of weeks after tweaking both of his ankles in just the second game of the season. To make a long story short, the oft-injured point guard stated that he’s putting his long-term health into consideration because he doesn’t want to feel discomfort years later when he is done with the game of basketball.
Naturally, that’s a bit of a controversial statement and didn’t sit well with a lot of fans. Those around him, however, know how hard he works behind the scenes. No one can really judge him better than they can, and various members of the Chicago Bulls gave the former MVP their full support on the matter, from Scott Powers of ESPN:
“Look, I think that’s a fair concern for everybody,” Bulls forward Mike Dunleavy said after practice on Wednesday. “It’s a big topic now in sports, especially in football with concussions and things like that. It goes the same with basketball. You know different types of injuries and things like that. There’s certainly more to life than it.
“At the end of the day, look, Derrick’s fully committed. I can speak on his behalf. He’s fully committed the way I see him working, the way I see him out there. Nobody should question that. You know it’s a little bit different viewpoint, but as far as his commitment to us, the city, the team, that should never be put in question.”
[…]
“I heard a couple things from people, not directly reading from the outlets, but obviously he’s concerned about his long-term health, which we all are in a way, but we’re in a business, we’re in a sport, where that’s what’s at stake and that’s a commitment that we make, and a price that we pay,” Gasol said. “It’s something that any athlete is exposed to, but I think he’s a guy that works extremely hard. He works hard, and I think he’s 100 percent committed to winning and to this team. But in the make of his mind, he’s had a rough stretch, so you understand that part.”
[…]
“I think this: I know Derrick, and I know he wants to play,” Thibodeau said. “You have to take a look at what he’s just gone through. It’s been 2½ long years, two major injuries. So, there’s a lot going on there. When you sprain both your ankles, you have to do what you think is right.
“As I said, if he’s healthy, he should play. If he’s injured, he should sit. It’s a long time that he’s been off. He’s got to go. And I think he understands that. Derrick wants to win. We’ve got a good group. We’ve got a good opportunity. It’s on us what we do with the opportunity. And the commitment from our entire team has to be special. If we want to do something great, the effort has to be great in all areas. I’ve been around a long time. I understand you can’t shortcut this.”
I’ve already said my piece in the first link provided above on this matter, so I won’t elaborate too much more on it. Of course, his teammates will support and stay behind Rose, but Gasol’s statement seems to subtly agree with my thinking on this: while it’s understandable for a professional athlete to be concerned about his long-term health, that’s not something you should worry about while playing because that’s what you signed up for. In other words, be concerned about a sprained ankle, but don’t sit out if you’re good enough to play because you’re concerned about how your ankle might feel later on in life. That’s a bad excuse for an athlete.
Moving onto some fantasy basketball news, there are a lot of one-day fantasy sites out there that can get highly addicting. One site called FanDuel caught popularity last season, and is now the exclusive partner of the NBA, from Darren Rovell of ESPN:
The NBA has signed a four-year exclusive daily fantasy deal with FanDuel, the league announced Wednesday.
Financial details were not disclosed, but as part of the deal, the league will become an investor in the market leader in one of the fastest-growing sports sectors. FanDuel also will be the only daily fantasy site featured on the league’s official website.
“The special status helps legitimize us, but we wanted to do this deal because the NBA, more than any other league, they understood the upside to them as well,” FanDuel CEO and co-founder Nigel Eccles said.
FanDuel has recently raised its projections on net revenue for 2014 to $60 million. That’s up from just $14.5 million last year.
The company says it will take in more than $550 million in entry fees this season, giving 91 percent of that back to its customers in prize money.
FanDuel has brought in 650,000 new paying players in the past three months. Before this year, the company never had a single quarter with more than 200,000 active players.
I used to play FanDuel last year, but gave up after several frustrating tries of plugging in the wrong players at the wrong time. It’s fun to play if you’re a patient person and have some extra dollars to burn without being upset about it if you get nothing back in return. If you’re less patient, it’s a game that can really stress you out. That said, I looked at the site on Wednesday and saw the top prize: $20,000 for a $20 league. That’s the kind of stuff that can pull you right back into it. I also noticed that over 10,000 people were in that league. It’s pretty tough on any given night to have a lineup that is the best out of that many people, so I stayed away. If you’re going to play in any of the leagues on the site, I would personally recommend that you play in leagues where there are no more than two to three thousand players. Your odds are simply better for a chance to win that way.
I’ve been playing on a site that Sheridan Hoops has been promoting: Draft Kings. I decided to invest $50 at the beginning of the season, expecting to lose it all at the end of the day. That’s the mindset you have to have going into it. Otherwise, you’ll be mad at yourself for thinking you had a chance when you do lose it all. No matter how wise you are, no matter how great of an understanding you have of the game of basketball, understand that this is gambling at the end of the day.
That said, I’ve played in leagues where there wasn’t an overcrowded number of players, and all it took was one great night of picking to win big: $1000 for coming in fourth place in a $12 league with about 2,400 people playing. Here is the lineup I chose that night.
What I’ve also noticed about these fantasy sites in general is that you have a much better chance to win on nights where there aren’t as many games because you simply have less options. The less options you have, the more precise you have to be in order to win. This is good, because you eliminate the possibility of losing out to random players going off on any given night when there are about 10 games on deck. It’s just harder to win when you’re going up against more options. Take Wednesday night, for example. There were nine games on in total, and you had guys like Brandon Jennings (32 points and 10 assists) and Paul Millsap (30 points and 17 rebounds) who normally aren’t reliable enough to pick, but ended up being complete wildcards that ended up working out for all the risk takers out there. Most of the big winners had those two guys plugged into their lineups. How in the world are you supposed to know that Mr. Jennings “I lose minutes to D.J. Augustin” and Mr. Chillsap “I’ve been shooting 40 percent and haven’t sniffed 20 points all year” would go off like that? You don’t, and that’s part of the risk in playing these games in general.
Still, there is at least some method to the madness. What I’m saying is, there is less of those “what the hell” lineups that can win when there is a full slate of games versus a night when there are only about five or six games on, where you can really analyze who’s going to do what that night without driving yourself crazy with all the possibilities. At least that’s how I’ve been going about it, and I can’t complain about the overall results.
Oh, and this goes without saying: check the status of all the players to make sure you don’t have any unexpected DNP’s (rotoworld does a terrific job with updates). If one guy in your lineup doesn’t play, you’re pretty much done for that night.
OTHER NEWS AND ITEMS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report described his experience of meeting Michael Jordan – a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity, even for many sportswriters: “Even with his understated entrance, Jordan’s presence elicited the feeling, for a basketball guy, of meeting the president—sans the personal security. Jordan’s “cabinet” of longtime advisers, who are also involved with the Hornets, were present: Curtis Polk (who runs his overall company JUMP.DC in Washington, D.C., and is the Hornets’ vice chairman), Estee Portnoy (his business manager and spokeswoman) and Whitfield (a former Nike and Jordan Brand executive who is now the Hornets’ president). They are only together in Charlotte a couple of times per month, so you knew the lunch was a special occasion.”
Ironically, the man they once called “Iso-Joe” called out the Brooklyn Nets for their selfish style of play. For what it’s worth, Kevin Garnett agreed with him, from Rod Boone of Newsday: “Never one to openly criticize and easily one of the most laid-back players in the league, Johnson came down hard on some of his teammates in the aftermath of an ugly win over the Magic Sunday. He used the word “selfish” and said the players didn’t have each other’s backs, strong stuff from a player who by his own admission prefers to blend into the background… “I think if we play together as a unit and help each other out offensively, defensively, then a few of the games that we’ve had come down to the wire I don’t think would even get to that point,” Johnson said Wednesday. “And going forward, playing against the top teams, you can’t play that way.”… “I think in the course of the year, you are going to have guys be aggressive,” Garnett said, “and step out of some things from what we usually do and what we are built to be as far as team. I can understand where he comes from. Our shot selection sometimes is not the best. Obviously, we are trying to get better and it is a long year. We have to play better or we have to play together as a team. I feel like that’s where our strengths are.”
Remember the story some weeks ago about Blake Griffin slapping some guy at a club? He’s been charged for it, according to ESPN: “Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin has been charged with one count of misdemeanor battery for an incident in a Las Vegas nightclub last month. According to the filing Wednesday in the Clark County District Attorney’s office, Griffin “wilfully and unlawfully used force or violence” on Oct. 19 on Daniel Schuman, squeezing Schuman’s hand and shoulder and/or slapping him on the face. According to reports at the time of the incident, Griffin was upset by camera flashes in his face and grabbed Schuman’s phone. Teammates DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul were with Griffin at the club that night but were not involved in the alleged incident. According to police, the maximum penalty if convicted is six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.”
- Check out this hilarious instagram post from Chandler Parsons, who was somehow mistaken for Dirk Nowitzki at a Starbucks on Wednesday.
- Chris Webber did a marvelous impression of Avery Johnson in this clip. A definite must-watch.
In Dwight Howard’s new documentary, the controversial center explained why he asked management to fire Stan Van Gundy, via Marc Stein of ESPN: “Dwight on asking Magic management to make a coaching change after Orlando’s first-round exit in the 2011 playoffs: “We shouldn’t be losing like this. I wanted to win. And I went to management and I said: ‘Guys, I’m a player. I just want to give my two cents. I think that our coach has lost his touch with the team. Great coach, but I think he’s lost his touch, I think he’s lost his voice. And I think it’s time that you guys get a new voice.’ I said, ‘I love him as a coach, but I think we need a new voice.’ … Six weeks [later], they finally respond [and say], ‘We’re gonna keep Stan.’ So I’m like: ‘OK. That lets me know how you guys feel about your leader expressing how to make the team better.’ “
James Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.
Thanks for the solid info…although I think “hilarious”is a bit of a stretch.