The Basketball Thread

Arkandel · Sep 20, 2017, 7:40 PM

I hate those ice nerds who have their own thread and think hockey's all that. Who else here is hyped about the NBA season that's coming up soon, following the single most exciting offseason in history?

The Kyrie/IT trade, KD twitter drama, Paul George to OKC, Jimmy Butler to the Wolves, trading the #1 draft pick, Lonzo and Lavar, the possibility of a new Lakers resurgence featuring LeBron, the incredible mess that are the New York Knicks, Chris Paul to the Rockets...

Do you think anyone's taking out the Warriors this year? Do you think anyone can, barring injuries?

Ganymede · Sep 20, 2017, 7:43 PM

@Arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

The Kyrie/IT trade

Cleveland will somehow come out as the bandits, if Thomas proves he's healthy. Irving wanted out, he got out, and he gave the Cavs a king's ransom to do it.

Ainge fucked up.

Paul George to OKC

Pointless. Westbrook had an MVP year with no one around him, but that's because there was no one around him. He's the reincarnation of Iverson.

Jimmy Butler to the Wolves

Still a team that is young and full of problems.

Lonzo and Lavar

The Balls can suck themselves. Lonzo's the second coming of Manziel, mark my words.

Chris Paul to the Rockets.

It just means there's no one to truly challenge the Warriors in the West.

Do you think anyone's taking out the Warriors this year? Do you think anyone can, barring injuries?

Cleveland still has the best shot because LBJ is LBJ.

ThatGuyThere · Sep 20, 2017, 7:50 PM

I am not really hyped about the season as a whole. I am unreasonably excited about the likelihood of the Twolves making it back to the playoffs for the first time sine we had Garnett.
Big picture I expect it to be a lot like last year, Warriors just have too many pieces and without an injury I do not see anyone taking four out of seven from them. I think they regress a little bit so the finals might be closer and they likely will drop a game or two in the west, but last year they ran the table in the western conference and came pretty close to that in the finals before winning 4 games to one.
The east could get tricky the Cavs lost talent while the Celtics gained it but until someone beats a LeBron team in the east I can't pick against the Cavs. After all LeBron has been on the team that one the east 7 years running and besides the Celtics there is no one close to them in the east. I am not sure the Celtics are there yet, though I do expect the ECF to be the highlight of the playoffs.
I also hope that the Twolves fall valiantly in the playoffs rather than embarrassing themselves once they get there.

Arkandel · Sep 20, 2017, 7:54 PM

@Ganymede said in The Basketball Thread:

Cleveland will somehow come out as the bandits, if Thomas proves he's healthy. Irving wanted out, he got out, and he gave the Cavs a king's ransom to do it.

Ainge fucked up.

The weird thing to me is that he rushed. There was no reason to rush.

They would have had IT for at least another year. In that year they'd know 100% if the hip injury was bad, and treat his upcoming free agency accordingly; he obviously would want to stay for the max, and if he wasn't worth it then point guards are the easiest position to fill in the NBA.

Paul George to OKC

Pointless. Westbrook had an MVP year with no one around him, but that's because there was no one around him. He's the reincarnation of Iverson.

Yeah, I think OKC is heading for another heartbreak. PG wants to go to the Lakers, he's said as much. And Westie is amazing, but no superstar wants to play with him because he's so ball dominant. If someone like KD couldn't quite fit - an excellent shooter, selfless, a creator - I don't think there's another player that will mesh.

Jimmy Butler to the Wolves

Still a team that is young and full of problems.

I think Thibs will need to prove himself this year. Either the Wolves get good or they need to look for a new coach, because he's running out of excuses. KAT is a top 3 young player in the league, the team is stacked... it's time to produde.

The Balls can suck themselves. Lonzo's the second coming of Manziel, mark my words.

I dunno. I like what I saw in the summer league, and to be fair Lonzo hasn't said stupid things yet - it sounds like his dad is a complete moron, but that's not the kid's fault. His court vision is tremendous, but his shooting isn't... that's my issue with him. In this league it's not enough to be a playmaker. Look at Ricky Rubio.

Chris Paul to the Rockets.

It just means there's no one to truly challenge the Warriors in the West.

Uhm, the Rockets?

Do you think anyone's taking out the Warriors this year? Do you think anyone can, barring injuries?

Cleveland still has the best shot because LBJ is LBJ.

I think the Cavs might do better than last year because LeBron will now have something to prove. But the Dubs are so stacked. I've never seen a team this stacked in my life, and it's gotten 'worse' since so many veterans want to go over for little money for the chance to win a ring.

Ganymede · Sep 20, 2017, 8:02 PM

@Arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

Uhm, the Rockets?

Congratulations, you have James Harden and Chris Paul. And who else?

You have Eric Gordon, but he's a SG, like Harden. You think Brown, Jackson, or Taylor are going to help take minutes from an aging Paul?

At SF, you have ... who? PJ Tucker? 7.7 PPG career average, 32 years old. Trevor Ariza? 10.5 PPG, also 32.

At PF, you have Ryan Anderson. 13.2 PPG, 29.

At C, you either have the zombie of Nene, or a couple of unseasoned early-20-somethings.

So, you're probably going to be fielding a trio of guards if you want to have a shot at a win, and I'm going to take Curry, Thompson, and Green to take you down every damn time.

ThatGuyThere · Sep 20, 2017, 8:18 PM

I know they have said the right things so far but I am not sure that Paul and Harden will blend smoothly right away. Both are best being ball dominant and that has the makings for some learning time being necessary. I think the best non-GSW team in the west is the Spurs still. If you look at the playoffs last year that series was over with the Leonard injury granted I don't think the spurs would have one without the injury but I think they could have one a game or two and made it a series.

Arkandel · Sep 20, 2017, 9:03 PM

@ThatGuyThere No one is going to blend well right away, not even Butler on the Wolves who needed a good 3&D guy at his position really badly. Certainly not the Celtics who just basically rebooted the team.

It takes a while to gel... it's just that teams with enough superstar power can hide the growing pains a little better.

Arkandel · Sep 21, 2017, 4:50 PM

Kevin Durant says he hasn't been able to eat or sleep since posting disparaging tweets about the Thunder.

Dude, can you get more soft?

ThatGuyThere · Sep 21, 2017, 4:55 PM

@Arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

Kevin Durant says he hasn't been able to eat or sleep since posting disparaging tweets about the Thunder.

Dude, can you get more soft?

You believe that? Not the soft part but the quote. Kevin Durant is basically a brandbot although one that can't seem to hit the right answer.
He twitters a shot at his former team, then got called on it, now he is trying to mitigate that calling out and get some sympathy which is failing.
I don't think he actually feels bad about the tweet but is just trying nbot to look like a bad guy when what he really should do is go full on Charles Barkley-esque heel and revel in the hatred of (opposing) fans Ric Flair style.

Arkandel · Sep 21, 2017, 4:58 PM

@ThatGuyThere I absolutely believe that KD didn't intend to get caught making disparaging comments about his old team using a second throwaway Twitter account which he then exposed by accidentally posting from his real one about the fake one's comments, yes.

ThatGuyThere · Sep 21, 2017, 5:10 PM

@Arkandel
Oh I believe he didn't intend to get caught and wishes he hadn't but I do not believe that he hasn't been able to sleep or eat.
There is is a world of difference between those two positions.

Ganymede · Sep 23, 2017, 5:50 PM

Okay, so the Thunder apparently picked up Carmelo Anthony for McDermott, Kanter, and a 1st-round Draft Pick.

I'm not hot on the deal. Paul George and Anthony both play SF. Kanter was the Thunder's starting C. So, you'll probably have to throw on Cole and Gibson with the other three, giving you a lineup of Westbook-Cole-George-Anthony-Gibson. Undersized.

Then again, Westbrook, George, and Anthony? Yeah, that's nasty.

Anyone care to pick the Thunder over the Spurs for the team most likely to take out the Warriors?

ThatGuyThere · Sep 23, 2017, 7:43 PM

I think it was an odd deal all around none of the pieces except the draft pick seem to really fit in New York either. Though I give a slight upgrade to the Thunder, Kanter is a huge defensive liability to the point he hardly saw the floor in the playoffs last season. (9.1 minutes per game)
All in All is don't see this mattering a whole lot I would still rank the Thunder at best 4th in the west and not seeing them get by the Warriors.

Arkandel · Sep 25, 2017, 4:26 AM

This is the greatest off season of ALL TIME no questions asked.

Put all those trades together and add the entire NBA rising up to publicly trash talk Donald Trump after Stephen Curry said he wasn't going to the traditional champions' visit to the White House and Trump, being Trump, said they aren't invited then... including LeBron James calling the POTUS a bum and we have peaked.

There will never be an off season like this one.

ThatGuyThere · Sep 24, 2017, 2:29 AM

I just can't help but feel the actual season will be pretty lackluster. Off season has been fun but we are likely looking at the same finals match up as the last 3 years. the Warriors and the Cavs will have a tougher time getting there (granted since they lost a combined one playoff game before the finals last year an easier time would scarcely be possible) but I think it is another march to the inevitable once the play starts.

Ganymede · Sep 25, 2017, 2:59 AM

With even more drama: the Bulls apparently have agreed to buy Dwyane Wade out, and the forerunner to resign him is the Cavs.

Wade would fill the SG position nicely. Starting Thomas-Wade-James-Love-Thompson would be a force to reckon with, even for the Warriors.

Tempest · Sep 25, 2017, 4:26 AM

@Arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

This is the greatest off season of ALL TIME no questions asked.

Put all those trades together and add the entire NBA rising up to publicly trash talk Donald Trump after Stephen Curry said he wasn't going to the traditional champions' visit to the White House and Trump, being Trump, said they aren't invited then... including LeBron James calling the POTUS a bum and we have peaked.

There will never be an off season like this one.

I missed the Trump basketball crap. I've been seeing the football stuff though.

I just sigh.

Then the local news runs all these tweets and stuff from local dumbasses about how the players are being disrespectful and blahblah....nobody cares.

Arkandel · Sep 25, 2017, 2:35 PM

@Ganymede Don't forget OKC... that's the other half of the banana boat crew right there (minus CP3 of course).

The issue is 2017 DWade isn't 2009 DWade or even 2013 DWade. His defense has fallen off, and apparently Cleveland is promising him a starter position (which probably means it's where he's going), but although he's a considerable upgrade over Shump, I don't see a worst defensive back court than him and IT facing against Golden State... or hell, Boston.

Kyrie would feast on IT and DWade. And I don't even want to know what Curry would.

Ganymede · Sep 25, 2017, 2:35 PM

@Arkandel said in The Basketball Thread:

The issue is 2017 DWade isn't 2009 DWade or even 2013 DWade. His defense has fallen off, and apparently Cleveland is promising him a starter position (which probably means it's where he's going), but although he's a considerable upgrade over Shump, I don't see a worst defensive back court than him and IT facing against Golden State... or hell, Boston.

2017 DWade is better than Shump or J.R. Smith, period. One cannot overlook the synergy he had with LeBron when they were in Miami. Stat-wise, he's PPG based on MPG is still good, and his 3-pt. percentage jumped last year when he was playing with Butler. Defense is down, sure, but Cleveland's defense wasn't great when they defeated the Warriors two seasons ago.

ThatGuyThere · Sep 29, 2017, 10:20 PM

While this is not as big as some of the other news this off season, it has to count as at least sorta big news.
Russell Westbrook has signed an extension with the Thunder which baring a trade will keep him there for 6 more seasons. While I am not convinced they will win a championship anytime soon this at least keeps them from turning into a disaster since he showed that last year with a very average supporting cast he can pull them into hte playoffs.