Thunder signs Noel

[Old Man Game]

The NBA should stop even testing for this. It's ridiculous. It isn't even a crime in several states in which the league operates. Even Trump said he supports legalizing it at the federal level.

Just to be clear I support legalizing marijuana for recreational use, although 788 is a terrible bill because the tax money is going to go to school superintendents and their assistants instead of teachers and the classroom. The taxes are going to be as useless for education improvement as the lottery money has been.

However, that doesn't mean that every major sport will not continue to keep testing in their CBA. As long as the unions agree to it the players have to uphold their contract. It is like saying that NBA teams should sign scrubs to the federal minimum wage, which I believe is around $7.50 an hour at this point, because that is the law. It doesn't matter because the owners have agreed to a different minimum salary in the CBA.

1) 788 isn't terrible. School systems will use the proceeds how they see fit. Local control don't ya know.

2) the nbpa would drop that provision in a nano second if ownership didn't assist in it. You think the players want this FFS? M most if the league smokes pot.

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[Kizz Fastfists]

1) 788 isn't terrible. School systems will use the proceeds how they see fit. Local control don't ya know.

It goes into the general fund it is not assigned to the schools. Therefore the superintendents control the money. Are you aware that Oklahoma has the 8th most superintendents of all states in the Union? That is why the schools are so bad. Each of those superintendents has, on average, 3 assistants. With over 400 superintendents, some of which are only over one school, the system is so top heavy that the teachers and classrooms do not get what they should. Oklahoma is copying the failed education and economic policy of California. It isn't local control it is STATE control. Local control would be it going directly to the school districts based on students in the district. State control is it going into the general fund which is then delegated how fund managers see fit which is what leads to corruption, overpaid administrators and a lack of dollars helping the end user. In this case the end user would be the students. So 788 is GREAT if you don't care about students and care about bloated pensions and bureaucracy. It is terrible if you think Oklahoma being near the bottom in education is a bad thing, because this will do nothing to fix it just like the the general fund getting the lottery money did nothing to improve schools because the majority of the money never made it to the teachers or classrooms.

We need to learn from Texas. They have one superintendent per county. That is how they turned their schools around when they were falling behind. They got the money out of the bureaucracy and started putting it to work for the students. If Oklahoma did that they would add about $250M to the available funds for teachers and classrooms. To put it in perspective that would be enough for a $3K raise per teacher PLUS investments in the classrooms of new computers and other equipment. That could be done without any new taxation just by good governance which this state is lacking. The sad part is that it isn't a R or D issue so you can't blame a specific side. It is both parties being greedy and getting their unqualified relatives easy jobs in "education" where they don't have to do anything except collect a paycheck.

[Old Man Game]

1) 788 isn't terrible. School systems will use the proceeds how they see fit. Local control don't ya know.

It goes into the general fund it is not assigned to the schools. Therefore the superintendents control the money. Are you aware that Oklahoma has the 8th most superintendents of all states in the Union? That is why the schools are so bad. Each of those superintendents has, on average, 3 assistants. With over 400 superintendents, some of which are only over one school, the system is so top heavy that the teachers and classrooms do not get what they should. Oklahoma is copying the failed education and economic policy of California. It isn't local control it is STATE control. Local control would be it going directly to the school districts based on students in the district. State control is it going into the general fund which is then delegated how fund managers see fit which is what leads to corruption, overpaid administrators and a lack of dollars helping the end user. In this case the end user would be the students. So 788 is GREAT if you don't care about students and care about bloated pensions and bureaucracy. It is terrible if you think Oklahoma being near the bottom in education is a bad thing, because this will do nothing to fix it just like the the general fund getting the lottery money did nothing to improve schools because the majority of the money never made it to the teachers or classrooms.

We need to learn from Texas. They have one superintendent per county. That is how they turned their schools around when they were falling behind. They got the money out of the bureaucracy and started putting it to work for the students. If Oklahoma did that they would add about $250M to the available funds for teachers and classrooms. To put it in perspective that would be enough for a $3K raise per teacher PLUS investments in the classrooms of new computers and other equipment. That could be done without any new taxation just by good governance which this state is lacking. The sad part is that it isn't a R or D issue so you can't blame a specific side. It is both parties being greedy and getting their unqualified relatives easy jobs in "education" where they don't have to do anything except collect a paycheck.

Actually the language of the question is fairly vague about how a portion of the money will be spent beyond saying it will go to the general fund to be spent for education. But that changes nothing about the relative worth of 788. Issues with education funding are an entirely separate discussion.

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[Andre Roberstan]

If y'all want to continue the discussion, could you move it to the off-topic thread?

Or we could do a current affairs thread, though I'm always a bit loath to deal with political stuff because it means headaches.

[Old Man Game]

If y'all want to continue the discussion, could you move it to the off-topic thread?

Or we could do a current affairs thread, though I'm always a bit loath to deal with political stuff because it means headaches.

No. I'm done. Marijuana legalization is good. Education funding is its own tar ball. The end.

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[Old Man Game]

Anyway, back to Nerlens, solid signing. I'm pretty excited to see what he can do here.

[slick_watts]

fun fact: nerlens noel is the only player with a career 4% blk and 3% stl. he's also the only player with a career 3% blk and 3% stl. small-ish samples since he only has 5k career minutes but he is serious outlier for a big on those things particularly steals. he was productive on the defensive boards in dallas at least. defensively, he fits the profile. i just dunno about pairing him with someone like grant. if we end up not trading him, patterson might be a better front court partner. but i think patterson would be better with the starters than grant.

[alessandrux]

fun fact: nerlens noel is the only player with a career 4% blk and 3% stl. he's also the only player with a career 3% blk and 3% stl. small-ish samples since he only has 5k career minutes but he is serious outlier for a big on those things particularly steals. he was productive on the defensive boards in dallas at least. defensively, he fits the profile. i just dunno about pairing him with someone like grant. if we end up not trading him, patterson might be a better front court partner. but i think patterson would be better with the starters than grant.

I agree. I think there might be a possibility to see him with both. I would like if Grant sees some minutes at SF.
If Abrines shows he can handle the ball (good enough), I would like to see some ( a few) minutes for Abrines/Ferguson/Grant/Patterson/Noel.

[Andre Roberstan]

fun fact: nerlens noel is the only player with a career 4% blk and 3% stl. he's also the only player with a career 3% blk and 3% stl. small-ish samples since he only has 5k career minutes but he is serious outlier for a big on those things particularly steals. he was productive on the defensive boards in dallas at least. defensively, he fits the profile. i just dunno about pairing him with someone like grant. if we end up not trading him, patterson might be a better front court partner. but i think patterson would be better with the starters than grant.

I agree. I think there might be a possibility to see him with both. I would like if Grant sees some minutes at SF.
If Abrines shows he can handle the ball (good enough), I would like to see some ( a few) minutes for Abrines/Ferguson/Grant/Patterson/Noel.

Abrines played some backup point minutes last year. He's not terrible.

[Andre Roberstan]

fun fact: nerlens noel is the only player with a career 4% blk and 3% stl. he's also the only player with a career 3% blk and 3% stl. small-ish samples since he only has 5k career minutes but he is serious outlier for a big on those things particularly steals. he was productive on the defensive boards in dallas at least. defensively, he fits the profile. i just dunno about pairing him with someone like grant. if we end up not trading him, patterson might be a better front court partner. but i think patterson would be better with the starters than grant.

Yeah, I've seen those numbers too, which is the main reason I'm excited about it. He's apparently a little bit of a gambler, which is probably why he was in Carlisle's doghouse. But the talent is there.

[Balkman32]

Can he be the boogie stopper...

[anthony00]

the nba is canceled until further notice

[Kizz Fastfists]

Can he be the boogie stopper...

In the same sense that Mutumbo was a Shaq stopper and Roberson is a Harden stopper. He makes it harder on Cousins, but no one can actually stop the top players. It is why Russ and PG get theirs in the playoffs, but Melo has always dropped off. OKC is still in need of that 3rd scorer that can maintain performance when the intensity kicks up in the playoffs.

[Kizz Fastfists]

the nba is canceled until further notice

There has been no NBA for two years and there will not be any for another 4 years. However, if people were actually upset to the point they wanted to "fix" the "problem" they would stop buying season tickets, attending games, watching games and buying merchandise for ALL teams. As long as the league is getting money as usual they will consider this a golden era of profits and try to figure out how to repeat this. All of us who have attended games, watched games, bought gear, etc since kd went to GS are part of the problem, because we are casting the most powerful vote we have, the dollar vote, in favor of the current NBA.

This is why I will not watch, attend or financially support in any way the NBA this season. I cut back a LOT last year, but I'm done with the NBA until the GS era is over.

[spearsy23]

Can he be the boogie stopper...

In the same sense that Mutumbo was a Shaq stopper and Roberson is a Harden stopper. He makes it harder on Cousins, but no one can actually stop the top players. It is why Russ and PG get theirs in the playoffs, but Melo has always dropped off. OKC is still in need of that 3rd scorer that can maintain performance when the intensity kicks up in the playoffs.

Boogie has never been harden or Shaq. He's in the land of the very good, and that's when he's healthy.

[spearsy23]

the nba is canceled until further notice

There has been no NBA for two years and there will not be any for another 4 years. However, if people were actually upset to the point they wanted to "fix" the "problem" they would stop buying season tickets, attending games, watching games and buying merchandise for ALL teams. As long as the league is getting money as usual they will consider this a golden era of profits and try to figure out how to repeat this. All of us who have attended games, watched games, bought gear, etc since kd went to GS are part of the problem, because we are casting the most powerful vote we have, the dollar vote, in favor of the current NBA.

This is why I will not watch, attend or financially support in any way the NBA this season. I cut back a LOT last year, but I'm done with the NBA until the GS era is over.

This is such a melodramatic overreaction. I don't watch the warriors, but other than that I like watching good players play good basketball, the inability of 29 teams to win a championship has no bearing on that outside of 4 playoff series.

[anthony00]

the nba is canceled until further notice

There has been no NBA for two years and there will not be any for another 4 years. However, if people were actually upset to the point they wanted to "fix" the "problem" they would stop buying season tickets, attending games, watching games and buying merchandise for ALL teams. As long as the league is getting money as usual they will consider this a golden era of profits and try to figure out how to repeat this. All of us who have attended games, watched games, bought gear, etc since kd went to GS are part of the problem, because we are casting the most powerful vote we have, the dollar vote, in favor of the current NBA.

This is why I will not watch, attend or financially support in any way the NBA this season. I cut back a LOT last year, but I'm done with the NBA until the GS era is over.

This is such a melodramatic overreaction. I don't watch the warriors, but other than that I like watching good players play good basketball, the inability of 29 teams to win a championship has no bearing on that outside of 4 playoff series.

i might watch highlights thats about it

[dakomish23]

One of my trade targets from last year. A great signing that should pay dividends for the team.

Too bad they couldn’t get Bradley too (ducks)

[1bigfan13]

I think this fills a huge need for OKC. Last year once Adams went to the bench OKC usually took it on the chin in the paint. Derrick Favors, for example, looked like an All-Star during the playoffs against the Thunder's undersized front court.

My only concern is Noel has a history of getting nicked up rather easily. We just have to hope that he's healthy heading into April 2019, assuming OKC is in the playoff picture.

[NetsWorld]

Noel is a low risk and high reward kind of signing. I think this OKC team will bank on developing its youth and these kind of signings to help them pull through.