You’re forgetting the Detroit Pistons — the exact example that everyone tries to replicate when they don’t luck into a superstar (see: recent Hawks teams).

I’m not going to disagree with you on the first two, but on Okafor, hindsight is 20-20. There were legitimate discussions of who should be #1 — KAT or Okafor — prior to the draft last year. They followed conventional wisdom, taking the best player available to them as judged by the majority of the media/NBA/draft…

I think even fewer than 60 games, if you’re starting on Christmas Day — there were a ton of nasty 4 games in 5 nights, or back-to-back-to-back instances, as well.

Yep, and there were so many instances of back-to-back-to-backs or 4 games in 5 nights that it was ridiculous.

The Saints’ touchdown during that shootout vs. SF in the 2011 Divisional Round.

BOTH of them!

Except that Spo’s teams weren’t the architects of pace/space. That goes back to the Nash/D’Antoni Seven Seconds or Less Suns.

You’re 100% correct on the first part, but I’m not so sure about the second. There were plenty of small-ball offense teams prior to the LeBron-era Heat; Spo’s teams just got notoriety because the team was one for the ages (2012, when they had the 27-game win streak), with LeBron in the middle of his prime.

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Clippers have tossed the idea around of a Griffin for Carmelo swap, internally. Zach Lowe had an interesting analysis of this hypothetical a few months ago — floor spacing is much, much better with only one of the DJ/Blake combo, and Melo offers a bailout option for when the…

Technically, both of them earned the money — they were able to negotiate egregious contracts that were bound to look bad at the back-end BECAUSE of how good they were up until the negotiations.

More importantly, io9 has been shitting on the movie for nearly three years — why would they stop now that they finally have vindication?

Oh, I’m sorry — it’s not a definite “no” — http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/n…

“But whether they ultimately select one, two, or even three centers for the Olympics, Davis’s absence means small ball will become an even more prominent part of their identity.”

I believe that Paul George has stated on the record that he won’t be playing for Team USA anymore — it was sometime during this season, I think.

Also worth noting how close they came in 2012 — the Ibaka/Gasol/Gasol team had a shot at winning the gold against the US, and may have done so if Marc Gasol hadn’t gotten into foul trouble.

I thought Season 3 had its moments (the “fall finale” episode, The Climb, is still the best episode they’ve ever done, IMO). But yeah, not as good as S2. Season 4 is pretty good so far — they killed it with the casting of Damien Dahrk — but I think it’s being hindered rather than helped by the wonky island-mysticism…

Because, quite frankly, it’s part of the basic premise of the TV show and its main character. If you don’t get the reference, it’s better to just look it up yourself to understand the backstory.