This new ESPN piece on "Inside The Nexus Between Partying And Winning in the NBA" is pro-click all the way, it's hilarious...among other things, it informs us that the ability to get laid through the internet has materially increased the efficiency of road teams in the NBA. "It's absolutely true that you get at least two hours more sleep getting laid on the road today versus 15 years ago," says one former All-Star.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/presents18969358/nexus-partying-winning-nba
But I'm putting it on this thread because of the spine-chilling conclusion to the story:
"Type
Harden's name into TMZ.com's archives, and you'll find him mentioned in at least 25 posts last season, while he dated tabloid magnet Khloe Kardashian. The distractions amounted to what Harden has called his worst year ever (even if he did post career-best numbers)....
This season, though, we're seeing a different Harden, and it's not lost on NBA folks that his name has appeared just once on TMZ since the season began. And that lone post? It's a video of Drake making a toast during a New Year's Eve performance at Hakkasan, a nightclub in Las Vegas.
"Make some noise for my brother James Harden in here tonight," Drake urged a crowd of screaming fans. "My brother scored 53 with 16 [rebounds] and 17 [assists]. ... It's just that type of night."
Except it wasn't, of course, not for Harden. He was offstage and out of the limelight. He didn't step forward. In fact, he might very well have gone home early. The next game, Harden produced another triple-double, helping the surging Rockets notch another win.
A day later, across the country, Purple grabbed his phone and posted another photo to his Instagram. It was a picture of him walking a celebrity couple into the LIV nightclub for that Sunday's New Year's Eve party.
The couple?
Khloe Kardashian and, finishing off a road trip, Cavs center Tristan Thompson."