The Basketball Thread

Arkandel · Sep 29, 2017, 10:26 PM

@ThatGuyThere Do you think the Rockets are a better team than the Thunder this year?

ThatGuyThere · Sep 29, 2017, 10:37 PM

@Arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

@ThatGuyThere Do you think the Rockets are a better team than the Thunder this year?

I am really not sure. Right now in the west I put the Warriors at one and the Spurs at 2, and I think the Rockets and Thunder are gonna be fighting for 3, I think it will come down to which of the teams learns to work together first.
I think the thunder have more total talent but I think the Rockets are a bit deeper. If you make me make a call right now, I would say the Thunder edge into the 3rd spot for the playoffs but I think it will be one of those races that comes down to the wire. In the playoffs I think who ever is in the three has a shot at the Spurs but the team stuck in four will maybe get a game off the Warriors.
Oddly enough before the extension I would definitely have picked the Rockets over the Thunder but I think the extension will have a stabilizing effect on the team.

Edit to add: I have not used that many words to say "I don't know." since college.

Arkandel · Sep 29, 2017, 10:49 PM

@ThatGuyThere I think any team at the moment who are not:

Called the Golden State Warriors
Don't have a guy called LeBron James on their roster or
Aren't building to win in 2+ years

are deluding themselves. I mean it's okay since Houston or OKC will still put up a decent fight, there's nothing wrong with it, but the ones bailing their future at all to win 'now' are just... not thinking straight.

Boston is the one possible exception if they can use what's left of their picks and young roster to trade for Anthony Davis. Now that guy is a legitimate weapon against the Dubs.

ThatGuyThere · Sep 29, 2017, 10:48 PM

I have to agree, I do think this year will be Dubs and Cavs part four, I do want more playoff drama to get there than last year though and I do think we will get that.
One of the big reasons I like the Russ extension is that it can be used to try and convince George to stay around.
Yes I know he has been very adamant about going to the Lakers once he hits free agency but Russ is there for the foreseeable future and Melo for two more years after this one. If they make a respectable play off run, (I will define that as winning the first round and taking the second round to 6 or more games.) They might convince him to stay, after all LA is improving but they still likely miss the playoffs.
If the thunder keep George then they have a legit "Big 3" to add pieces to, Presti has done an excellent job of rebuilding the Thunder after the exit of Durant when I lot of people, including me, thought it was a death knell for the team. It would not surprise me to see him getting another piece in the off season given how well he has done in this one.

Arkandel · Oct 4, 2017, 5:16 PM

@ThatGuyThere In my heart of hearts what I want to see is LeBron somehow going to San Antonio, and pulling CP3 and PG over.

That defensive juggernaut led by the best coach in history would decimate the Warriors. But...

Arkandel · Oct 4, 2017, 5:16 PM

Changes for the NBA All-Star game in 2018:

Team captains will choose their own rosters (no more East vs West)
Teams will play for charity

ThatGuyThere · Oct 4, 2017, 5:31 PM

Are the players the teams are chosen from still selected on an east-west basis or just one big pool of all-stars?
Part of me really wants it one big pool just to laugh when the east has like three players total sent.
Though watching the bottom tier of the East that get sent if the selection process remains split waiting to the end in a big huddle to get picked would amuse me to. I would tune in to watch that, not the actual game though because without exception all all-star games in every sport are hard to watch.

Arkandel · Oct 4, 2017, 5:36 PM

@ThatGuyThere The way I understand it is fans select the total pool voting separately for East and West. Coaches get a say too.

The player with the most votes from each conference is a Captain, and they take turns picking, but they can pick any available player from either conference (i.e. playground rules).

If you're thinking "... LeBron could choose to not pick Kyrie if the other team doesn't pick him?" then yes, yes and yes.

ThatGuyThere · Oct 4, 2017, 5:37 PM

The Picking should definitely be fun to watch. Likely the best part of the weekend for me.

Arkandel · Oct 4, 2017, 5:45 PM

@ThatGuyThere We have no details about how they'll televise it. Like do players pick live? Or do they sit down together in a room and then come out with the rosters, or what.

ThatGuyThere · Oct 4, 2017, 5:55 PM

That is true, I am really hoping they show the picks live. I mean I would think it is a no-brainer after all it can lead to drama and rivalries that can be used to hype games for the rest of the year and beyond.

Arkandel · Oct 18, 2017, 1:15 AM

Gordon Hayward

Ganymede · Oct 18, 2017, 1:24 AM

That was a pretty gruesome injury.

Not that the Celtics were going to compete or anything.

Arkandel · Oct 18, 2017, 1:28 AM

@ganymede I'm not worried about this year. But injuries like that have been known to cut careers short, or alter them

Arkandel · Oct 19, 2017, 5:27 PM

"New information on Hayward surgery. As good as doctors could hope. Clean break, no ligament damage."

"[Wojnarowski] After surgery tonight, Boston's Gordon Hayward is unlikely to return this season, agent Mark Bartelstein told ESPN."

And as we know, Jeremy Lin's season is over due to a blown ACL.

Ganymede · Oct 20, 2017, 1:44 PM

@Arkandel

LeBron James had 25 points in his first game in the NBA, right out of high school.

Kobe Bryant didn't score a point until his second game; however, in those two games, he only had a combined 9 minutes on the floor.

Guess who had 3 points in 29 minutes? Lonzo "The Second Coming of Johnny Football" Ball.

He looked and played like a chump, getting out-played badly by Patrick Beverley.

Who's Patrick Beverley? Exactly.

Chump.

Arkandel · Oct 20, 2017, 2:04 PM

@ganymede Yeah, agreed. And also his dad did him no favors by painting a gigantic target on his kid's back and turning him into a project for every NBA veteran who wants to show the rookie what's what.

The fact his team is also young and terribly inexperienced does him no favors. They have nearly no shooters other than Brook Lopez, really. Why they think LeBron is going to go over there next summer is beyond me because that team is nowhere near contending.

Ganymede · Oct 20, 2017, 2:13 PM

@arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

Yeah, agreed. And also his dad did him no favors by painting a gigantic target on his kid's back and turning him into a project for every NBA veteran who wants to show the rookie what's what.

He's going to get killed.

Arkandel · Oct 20, 2017, 2:22 PM

@ganymede I mean it could be a good thing in the long run by forcing him to sink or swim, as long as he learns how to swim really well? And also Patrick Beverley is a recent All-Defensive team guy, not every PG he meets will be on that level or able to expend this much energy to shut Lonzo down.

Also did you watch the OCK game? Man, Carmelo looked happy. Forget his performance, but just on that level, smiling even after misses... I missed happyMelo.

Ganymede · Oct 20, 2017, 2:46 PM

@Arkandel

Who pays that much attention to the A-D Team?

That said, every goddamned point guard is going to be in his face all the damn time. Beverley is a solid defender, but can you imagine putting Harden, Westbrook, Irving, Thomas, Paul, or any other damn fine PGs on him?

He's Johnny Football. He's got the talent, but he's going to wash up hard.

As for Melo? Yeah, he looked happy because he didn't have to carry the damn team, or feel the need to. Or be in the limelight, ripped on from all sides. Westbrook will be the shining beacon, and all Melo has to do is play the game. Plus, he was playing the Knicks and still got 22 points, which was better than Westbrook, who got the T-D.