The NBA Discussion Thread

[Art Vandelay]

Lillard looking like a real good outside bet for MVP!

[Krytie 2X4B 523P]

Lillard, Davis and Kawhi have been the standouts so far. Like the look of Turner of the Pacers too.

 

I know it's early days yet but I'm loving this Bulls side. Rondo and Lopez were great last night.

 

Really enjoyed the Wolves-Kings match. Great finish. Really want the Wolves to do well, young squad with huge potential, but they can't seem to finish teams off. Once again, early days yet.

 

Early game on BT tonight with Clippers-Jazz at 2030. Nice week of the year where we get games an hour earlier than usual until US clocks change

[ElCece]

Who is all keeping up with the season so far? Not too many surprises so far really. My Pacers have been dog average although have perked up recently with Turner looking like a potential star. We still have glaring weakness' though.

 

Cavs now they've just traded for Korver have made the east even more of a forgone conclusion than before.

 

The Nets are horse shit. And Joel Embid is superb on and off the court

Edited January 8, 2017 by ElCece

[Really Big Shoe]

I'm still keeping up but have missed a few games. The Bulls have been better than I thought but I think Rondos getting traded. GSW haven't been the force everyone expected them to be but I still think they'll make the finals. The Cavs will make the finals again too, so another repeat. I'd like to see it more competitive but who knows a wildcard team might surprise us.

[seanz25]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread now we're just days away from playoff time, wondering what people have thought of the season so far and where they think it'll continue?

Been some really great stuff so far in my opinion, Westbrook's phenomenal form with everything that's happened over there has been great, plus his Buzzer Beater to put the Nuggets out of play-off contention was ridiculous. We've also got OKC vs Rockets in a first round playoff which I think's gonna be loads of fun. GSW have been pretty reliable even with injuries plaguing them throughout this season. They're going to the finals again aren't they? There's been a few mentions of the Clippers possibly causing them problems but I don't see it.  

The East has been a funny one, looks like my C's will take the #1 seed but we've been so inconsistent I have no idea if we'll make it out of the first round. We've been super fortunate with just how good IT has been, but he can be taken out of a game and if he doesn't hit the ground running with his shooting in a game he can be a negative to the team, firing useless shot's continuously. I still think we're the best positioned team for the future in the NBA though right now, few teams have ever had high-draft picks and the #1 spot in a season. Stevens/Ainge been working a miracle. The Cav's seemingly just turn it on when they need to, nobody can get near to them when they're playing well, they don't even really care about the #1 spot, they know they're beating almost everyone in the conference, perhaps the Raptors can cause them some problems that lead to fatigue in the 2nd round that might just mean  either the C's or the Wizard's might just have a shout. 

Think the East has some decent playoffs on offer, the Bucks can be a difficult team to beat, the Raptors are all over the place so you never really know there. Wizards vs Atlanta offers a fun back and forth season, I expect the Wizards to take it though. I still think we'll finish with Cavs/Warriors though, I'd love a shake-up, whether that be Clippers/OKC or Wiz/Celtics but it's not happening.

Edited April 12, 2017 by seanz25

[MVP RULZ]

If I was asked this question in January I'd of said I couldn't wait until the season ended but since then we've been one of the hottest teams in the league from 11-30 to 29-11 since for a 40-41 record and tied with the Bulls for that final Playoff place

I'll be up tonight watching the game vs the Wizards just hoping that either Indiana or Chicago loses and we win to get In, If both lose and we win we would even finish 7th with the tie breaker over Indiana

I'm Not optimistic it must be said, I know they lost to them the other day but the Bulls will beat the Worst team in the league in the Nets at home who are even resting players apparently.

Atlanta winning last night didn't help us either as they are now locked into the 5th spot leaving them nothing to play for tonight vs Indiana

Whatever happens Its been a fun last months and just seeing the turnaround from the 1st 3 months to the next 3 has been remarkable, If Waiters hadn't been Injured the past 6 or so games we might have sneaked at least another win and be the difference right now

I said to my brother after the 2 back to back home defeats to the Knicks and Nuggets 12-10 days ago that they will be costly and it appears they will be

Can't see past the Warriors to win it all though again, The Cavs will probably be the team as I don't think the no1 seed is all that important them or maybe more Importantly Lebron when we went to 4 Finals in a row we were only the 1 seed once in those 4 years and they showed vs the Celtics last week that they can turn it on when needed it seems, though I think they aren't as strong or formidable as last season so the chance is there for an upset but not quite ready to predict one just yet

Edited April 12, 2017 by MVP RULZ

[Really Big Shoe]

The NBA is back. Great first game between the Cavs and Celtics. Terrible luck for Gordon Hayward an ankle fracture in his first regular season game for Boston.

[Art Vandelay]

Thought I'd bump this. Been away from the forum for a long time, but wanted to get folk's thoughts on Kawhi wanting out of San Antonio. Where does he go? LeBron, Kawhi and Paul George to the Lakers next season?

[Keith Houchen]

Even as a Celtics fan, LeBron being LeBron against Boston was a sight to behold.

[Art Vandelay]

7 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Even as a Celtics fan, LeBron being LeBron against Boston was a sight to behold.

Yup! I really wanted the Cavs to somehow pull off another title rather than see another Warriors win, but I guess there's only so much LeBron can do on his own.

[Really Big Shoe]

1 hour ago, Art Vandelay said:

Thought I'd bump this. Been away from the forum for a long time, but wanted to get folk's thoughts on Kawhi wanting out of San Antonio. Where does he go? LeBron, Kawhi and Paul George to the Lakers next season?

Long answer, so I've spoilered my reply

Interesting article here

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2781345-how-the-lakers-can-trade-for-kawhi-leonard-and-still-land-lebron-paul-george

about Kawhi and his possible destinations. I don't know if they'd want to lose him to the Lakers unless they get like Kuzman. There's also talk about trading him to a Eastern conference team. Where ideally LeBron should stay since he'll be up against the GSW sooner in the Playoffs. Maybe as early as the 2nd round or semi finals of the Western conference. The East almost guarantees a free path for him to the Finals. 

Going to the Celtics with Kyrie and Gordon Hayward would be a really good option. There's also the 76ers who have a younger team where LeBrons presence could help to get them over the line. 

I believe ESPN broke down George, James and Leonard going to the Lakers. They'd have to trade majority of their younger promising players. They have to move Loul Deng's contract and they all want max deals. LA would be more than willing to pay luxury tax but it would leave little to bring in nothing more than players on veterans minimum deals.

Golden State have assembled a super team where even their B team has quality. So really you have to match them equally with a big 3 and talented role players around them. Maybe they'd be older players willing to take less to join up with them to win a Championship so there is that. 

Another story is James met up with D-Wade and Udonis Haslem in Miami where in theory they could assemble a super team there with Pat Riley masterminding it all.

I don't know whether all three will land in the same destination. Kawhi definitely wants out so unless they can offer him something special to stay he's on his way out. SI are saying Paul George is important factor in all this https://www.si.com/nba/2018/06/12/paul-george-lebron-james-nba-free-agency-domino-lakers-rockets-celtics He was great for the Pacers so if he returns to his prior form he'd be a big pick up. There's a multitude of LeBron articles but one I read is where he wants to raise his family and that might be a huge deal for his possible destination and most likely his last stop in his NBA career.

Id be surprised if he stays in Cleveland unless they move Love elsewhere and trade Hood, Hill et al. There's talk of Kevin Love to the Trailblazers. But a journeyman type team probably won't work and would take too long to gel. Had Kyrie still been a Cav then you have two solid foundations to build around with him and LeBron.

But now it's a situation I see the Cavaliers trading for James and focusing on rebuild 3.0 without LeBron again. Magic will no doubt pull out all the stops to assemble their big 3 but it doesn't guarantee a NBA championship especially if they don't have a strong enough bench. GSW will continue to dominate unless they are matched up against a team of a similar quality across the board. They have role players like West, Livingston, Iguodala who step up and are integral parts of the team. So it's real important you don't just assemble a big 3 but a super team where everyone plays their part. Otherwise even if you do make the NBA finals you are up against the Warriors and once KD, Curry and Klay are on fire and shooting 3s and the guys off the bench are playing their parts...you're done.

You need to neutralise the Warriors. A younger team say the Sixers could out run them or you could play tough defence like the old Pistons "Bad Boys" team but that would 9 times out of 10 send them to the foul line. So you really need to study tapes, find their weakness(es) [if they even exist] and exploit them. They are beatable though as Houston proved but once Chris Paul got injured they didn't have the same quality and intensity. 

I think had he stayed healthily they might have pulled off an upset. But teams have to play 110% every second of the game to stand a realistic chance. Only rarely do they have off games. Plus when Durant, Curry and Thompson are at their best they are near unbeatable. So to conclude at this is very TL:DR type post I think there's a good chance we'll see Paul, Kawhi and LeBron as Lakers. But that doesn't guarantee they will dethrone the Warriors. As a big NBA fan I'd definitely like to see much more competition and another finals match up. It's 3 years now in a row we've seen Warriors vs Cavaliers. It's the 2010s Lakers v Celtics. Speaking of which, we might see that as the 2019 NBA Finals

[Art Vandelay]

On 6/16/2018 at 6:02 PM, Really Big Shoe said:

Long answer, so I've spoilered my reply

 

  Hide contents

Interesting article here

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2781345-how-the-lakers-can-trade-for-kawhi-leonard-and-still-land-lebron-paul-george

about Kawhi and his possible destinations. I don't know if they'd want to lose him to the Lakers unless they get like Kuzman. There's also talk about trading him to a Eastern conference team. Where ideally LeBron should stay since he'll be up against the GSW sooner in the Playoffs. Maybe as early as the 2nd round or semi finals of the Western conference. The East almost guarantees a free path for him to the Finals. 

Going to the Celtics with Kyrie and Gordon Hayward would be a really good option. There's also the 76ers who have a younger team where LeBrons presence could help to get them over the line. 

I believe ESPN broke down George, James and Leonard going to the Lakers. They'd have to trade majority of their younger promising players. They have to move Loul Deng's contract and they all want max deals. LA would be more than willing to pay luxury tax but it would leave little to bring in nothing more than players on veterans minimum deals.

Golden State have assembled a super team where even their B team has quality. So really you have to match them equally with a big 3 and talented role players around them. Maybe they'd be older players willing to take less to join up with them to win a Championship so there is that. 

Another story is James met up with D-Wade and Udonis Haslem in Miami where in theory they could assemble a super team there with Pat Riley masterminding it all.

I don't know whether all three will land in the same destination. Kawhi definitely wants out so unless they can offer him something special to stay he's on his way out. SI are saying Paul George is important factor in all this https://www.si.com/nba/2018/06/12/paul-george-lebron-james-nba-free-agency-domino-lakers-rockets-celtics He was great for the Pacers so if he returns to his prior form he'd be a big pick up. There's a multitude of LeBron articles but one I read is where he wants to raise his family and that might be a huge deal for his possible destination and most likely his last stop in his NBA career.

Id be surprised if he stays in Cleveland unless they move Love elsewhere and trade Hood, Hill et al. There's talk of Kevin Love to the Trailblazers. But a journeyman type team probably won't work and would take too long to gel. Had Kyrie still been a Cav then you have two solid foundations to build around with him and LeBron.

But now it's a situation I see the Cavaliers trading for James and focusing on rebuild 3.0 without LeBron again. Magic will no doubt pull out all the stops to assemble their big 3 but it doesn't guarantee a NBA championship especially if they don't have a strong enough bench. GSW will continue to dominate unless they are matched up against a team of a similar quality across the board. They have role players like West, Livingston, Iguodala who step up and are integral parts of the team. So it's real important you don't just assemble a big 3 but a super team where everyone plays their part. Otherwise even if you do make the NBA finals you are up against the Warriors and once KD, Curry and Klay are on fire and shooting 3s and the guys off the bench are playing their parts...you're done.

You need to neutralise the Warriors. A younger team say the Sixers could out run them or you could play tough defence like the old Pistons "Bad Boys" team but that would 9 times out of 10 send them to the foul line. So you really need to study tapes, find their weakness(es) [if they even exist] and exploit them. They are beatable though as Houston proved but once Chris Paul got injured they didn't have the same quality and intensity. 

I think had he stayed healthily they might have pulled off an upset. But teams have to play 110% every second of the game to stand a realistic chance. Only rarely do they have off games. Plus when Durant, Curry and Thompson are at their best they are near unbeatable. So to conclude at this is very TL:DR type post I think there's a good chance we'll see Paul, Kawhi and LeBron as Lakers. But that doesn't guarantee they will dethrone the Warriors. As a big NBA fan I'd definitely like to see much more competition and another finals match up. It's 3 years now in a row we've seen Warriors vs Cavaliers. It's the 2010s Lakers v Celtics. Speaking of which, we might see that as the 2019 NBA Finals

 

Could you imagine LBJ going back to Miami? I do think he'll go to LA, but stranger things have happened.

I do wonder, even if Kawhi says he'll only go to certain teams or he won't re-sign, if some team like Boston would just take him for the year anyway? The Kings are also desperate for a star too and could end up making a play. If things really break down, I could see the Spurs just trading him there as an FU to Kawhi.

[Really Big Shoe]

LeBron said he was happy living in Miami and his family liked living there too. Plus he has his friends there so yea I wouldn't totally rule that out.

Talk is Chris Paul is saying LeBron wants to go to LA. But I think with the Lakers there's a danger if he doesn't bring a championship to them it tarnished his legacy a little. Like Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe did it but he couldn't so going to the Lakers there's a ton of additional pressure. 

Kawhi and Gregg Popovich met up recently

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/6/20/17482668/kawhi-leonard-trade-rumors-mad-meeting-gregg-popovich-spurs-gmib

Pop might be able to smooth things out, that or Kawhi still goes out of spite. As for interested teams The Suns are too. But personally I'd want to go to a title to win a championship as Sacramento, Phoenix unless they promise to build around him he could waste the prime of his career with a team that doesn't even break the 0.500 mark.

LeBron did say that he wanted to play for Pop so it's a real long shot, but, say he makes it right with Kawhi Leonard and they make a play for LeBron you could see a new Tim Duncan/David Robinson type scenario with LBJ/Leonard which brought two championships to San Antonio. 

Also NBA draft on Thursday. The Suns have the #1 pick

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/underestimated23846350/2018-nba-draft-mock-drafts-rankings-best-players-trade-assets-more

[Art Vandelay]

I think we’ll see some movement around the draft. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any last min trades during the event.

Dwight Howard traded to the Nets yesterday. It’s crazy to see what’s happened to his career since he left the Magic. Basically the Nets now have two max salary slots going forward from 2019. I do wonder if they could attract any big names...

[Art Vandelay]

Also, NBA Live 19 is looking great. I’ve been a 2K player for years but hated 2K18. Gave up on it and went to Live 18 and had a blast with it. Their career mode (‘The One’) is awesome!

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