2014-15 Official NBA Season Thread

[GUCCI CONDOMS]

Just an awesome game all around from both teams.

crazy to think cleveland is given the best odds to win it all (by vegas) when you consider where they were a couple of months back.

if only they could incorporate love...

best way to incorporate love (who is most effective when he has the ball in his hands) is to make him your 6th man, let him operate with the ball in his hands and be in predominantly when one of or both of lebron/irving aren't on the court

he's just a terrible fit for lebron/irving who are ball-dominant players to be their most effective on offense, only one ball on the court at a time is death to love's strengths, he's an inconsistent spot-up shooter (i can't tell you how many wide open 3's i've seen him brick off perfect passes from both lebron and irving) and he doesn't play a lick of defense so unless you have a younger chandler/marion/etc. covering up dirk's defense type of situation you won't win with love as a focal point, mozgov fouls too frequently and tristan isn't ready and varejao is out for the year

you know i feel the same way, but i just can't come to grips with moving love to the bench. i believe love has to go back and watch bosh's tapes the past 4 years in miami because he's in the same exact situation. i think the difference is that spolestra would actually call plays for bosh from time to time (especially early in the game) and also spolestra would have stretches where wade and lebron were on the bench and everything was ran though bosh. I don't see how that's not possible in cleveland for love.

and yea love has to play defense, but even that is masked by lebron and mozgov's defensive dominance.

tristan is an interesting player as well. he shoots high percentage shots, rebounds, and makes his free throws. but he isn't really a good defensive player at all (not yet atleast). he seems to be getting the bulk of the minutes down the stretch, but it really should be love. i also think varejao getting hurt was the best thing for cavs as they probably would have never got mozgov. varejao is okay, but not who he used to be 5 years ago either.




i'm also worried about houston's rotation. they have too many forwards (luxury, not a problem), but they should have done something and addressed their roster when they had the chance. montejunas, terrance jones, j. smith, and to an extent brewer and ariza are all fighting for minutes and they are all starting calibur players. they have no bigs without howard and really no viable backup to beverly except for using harden as the point. the way harden is playing combined with their roster, they should be championship favorites or at least more in the conversation, but they just aren't cutting it. and i haven't heard anything about howard's return.

Howard is returning in 2 weeks...


Dwight Howard (right knee) went through a one-on-one workout on Wednesday and he expects to return in two weeks.
Howard reported no setbacks and his conditioning is good, but coach Kevin McHale emphasized that Houston's trainers "are going slow ... They want to make sure that they have a handle on it." A return on Mar. 25 vs. the Pelicans would give Howard a dozen games to prep for the playoff. Terrence Jones should hold value all season but owners of Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith should prepare for an eventual dropoff once Dwight takes the court. Mar 12 - 9:04 AM
Source: ESPN.com

[capable_keL]

what's with the pasting of ESPN blurbs?

[capable_keL]

scorer's table just allocated Westbrook with a late rebound giving him another triple double. hope it stands

Kanter is going to do well in OKC

[b. johnson]

you know i feel the same way, but i just can't come to grips with moving love to the bench. i believe love has to go back and watch bosh's tapes the past 4 years in miami because he's in the same exact situation. i think the difference is that spolestra would actually call plays for bosh from time to time (especially early in the game) and also spolestra would have stretches where wade and lebron were on the bench and everything was ran though bosh. I don't see how that's not possible in cleveland for love.

and yea love has to play defense, but even that is masked by lebron and mozgov's defensive dominance.

he can watch bosh's tapes all he wants but i'm not sure that will make him make some big shots and threes that bosh hit especially in the playoffs and i'm DEFINITEly sure it won't make him play defense like bosh did (bosh was arguably the defensive mvp of the title winning series against the spurs)

i mean i guess bosh is a great example for the purpose of this point though: bosh put up 24+ on a middling to shitty raptors team. like love put up 25+ on the shittier twolves. so bosh goes to a real winning squad as the 2nd best or 3rd best player on the team. before bosh got his freak injury i would have said that especially cuz of his quickness/athleticism he is a better 1 on 1 offensive player than love so i think in a vacuum if you ran plays for both of them on the same shitty team, bosh would put up bigger numbers at this point of their careers (if bosh didn't have this clot thing which i have no idea how a guy recovers from whether good or bad, no reference point)

bosh's value was definitely higher due to his defense (but this is offset a bit as love has mozgov). i would argue that love is a better shooter (not by much). anyway, i still think they are a good comparison. and my point is that the biggest difference is that blatt does not run any plays for love or allow him to be the primary option (for small stretches) like bosh had the opportunity to do (and it worked out great for miami).

i am a big fan of bosh and i really hope that he comes back 100% (and it sounds like they are just keeping him out as a precaution and he will be fine next year).

[b. johnson]

Dwight Howard (right knee) went through a one-on-one workout on Wednesday and he expects to return in two weeks.
Howard reported no setbacks and his conditioning is good, but coach Kevin McHale emphasized that Houston's trainers "are going slow ... They want to make sure that they have a handle on it." A return on Mar. 25 vs. the Pelicans would give Howard a dozen games to prep for the playoff. Terrence Jones should hold value all season but owners of Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith should prepare for an eventual dropoff once Dwight takes the court. Mar 12 - 9:04 AM
Source: ESPN.com[/quote]

but howard hasn't looked good for a long time and he has been injury ridden for several years now. coming back with 12 games to prep for the playoffs? that doesn't sound promising to me. again, my point was that they have too many forwards and no back ups for the guards or center position and did not make any moves when there were players available prior to the trade deadline (eg nets' lopez and others). houston has a lot of assets and a lot of talent. they missed a huge opportunity to make a splash.

[drobizhek]

you know i feel the same way, but i just can't come to grips with moving love to the bench. i believe love has to go back and watch bosh's tapes the past 4 years in miami because he's in the same exact situation. i think the difference is that spolestra would actually call plays for bosh from time to time (especially early in the game) and also spolestra would have stretches where wade and lebron were on the bench and everything was ran though bosh. I don't see how that's not possible in cleveland for love.

and yea love has to play defense, but even that is masked by lebron and mozgov's defensive dominance.

he can watch bosh's tapes all he wants but i'm not sure that will make him make some big shots and threes that bosh hit especially in the playoffs and i'm DEFINITEly sure it won't make him play defense like bosh did (bosh was arguably the defensive mvp of the title winning series against the spurs)

i mean i guess bosh is a great example for the purpose of this point though: bosh put up 24+ on a middling to shitty raptors team. like love put up 25+ on the shittier twolves. so bosh goes to a real winning squad as the 2nd best or 3rd best player on the team. before bosh got his freak injury i would have said that especially cuz of his quickness/athleticism he is a better 1 on 1 offensive player than love so i think in a vacuum if you ran plays for both of them on the same shitty team, bosh would put up bigger numbers at this point of their careers (if bosh didn't have this clot thing which i have no idea how a guy recovers from whether good or bad, no reference point)

Nothing arguable about that.

[Reason]

you euro posters

[naturalborn103]

Dwight Howard (right knee) went through a one-on-one workout on Wednesday and he expects to return in two weeks.
Howard reported no setbacks and his conditioning is good, but coach Kevin McHale emphasized that Houston's trainers "are going slow ... They want to make sure that they have a handle on it." A return on Mar. 25 vs. the Pelicans would give Howard a dozen games to prep for the playoff. Terrence Jones should hold value all season but owners of Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith should prepare for an eventual dropoff once Dwight takes the court. Mar 12 - 9:04 AM
Source: ESPN.com

but howard hasn't looked good for a long time and he has been injury ridden for several years now. coming back with 12 games to prep for the playoffs? that doesn't sound promising to me. again, my point was that they have too many forwards and no back ups for the guards or center position and did not make any moves when there were players available prior to the trade deadline (eg nets' lopez and others). houston has a lot of assets and a lot of talent. they missed a huge opportunity to make a splash.[/quote]
Long time meaning years? He looked great in the playoff series vs blazers last year.

Also, like reason said, Bosh is completely different player then Love. Fit perfectly in MIA defense they ran where big guy hedged very very hard on PnRs.

[stupidregister]

Westbrook is just so freakishly athletic that he never really learned how to play basketball. When he loses his ability to run past or bowl people over he's going to absolutely suck.

[naturalborn103]

LeBron does not look good in first half. Looks like he is really trying to avoid contact and is looking real stiff.

[Reason]

fuck kel

all that bullshit i pmed you about in our lil secret gay andrew wiggins pms about how martin seems to be able to coexist with andrew without raping his usage/shot attempts

FUCK kevin martin. can't they give him a fake injury and tank properly and let wiggins showcase what he's got, fuck

[Reason]

gstate vs atl, nba finals preview potential

[Reason]

i typed this early in the game way before he got a triple double tonight o.O

it's been a while since i made an insane post that comes from earnest, sane rznlogic, but this is basically my wishing elfrid payton ends up into the hall of fame during a career in which he never cuts his hair so by the time he gives his speech his fro will need its own full-time employee to hold it up so he doesn't collapse backwards

neway my 2nd boyfriend elfrid payton putting in work on espn right now

How Elfrid Payton Can Make It Two "Payton's" in the NBA Hall of Fame:

if he stays exactly the same, he'll be the best overall defending and rebounding point guard (better at d than russ but slightly worse in rebounding) in the nba and even with a broken shot he will still make plays and be in the top 10 in assists per game every year, basically a poor man's young jason kidd without the ability to hit free throws or like later kidd, shoot from 3...if j-kidd could learn i don't see why payton can't unless payton just gets awful coaching...his length and instincts defensively and as a point guard are really special, especially considering he has played with terrible comp overall until he got thrown into the nba spotlight so he should have a longer but eventually more rewarding learning curve, his being 21 is not a big deal because physically he does not have an injury-prone, high-risk game, he has no real injury history, and instinctively he is ahead of his years (most great players exhibit this trait, really only big men are exceptions as some of them take years to develop a reliable, comfortable post presence), like i said, higher learning curve potential

this current rookie year he is shooting:

42/23/52

if he improves his shooting and can get his percentages to even a 43/25/60 level, he will be that guy who just misses the all-star game as an alternate every year but affects the game just as much if not more than some who get in b/c his shooting woes are just too pronounced

if he improves his shooting to a 46/30/70 level, he'll make 5-7 all-star teams

if he somehow learned to change and correct his shooting form or concentrate on one aspect like j-kidd did by reforming his footwork for near-set shot 3 pointers and shot at like a 47/38/75 level, he'd make the hall of fame. before you roll your eyes, keep in mind i'd be predicting a prime line like 38 minutes per game, 18 points per game, 10 assists per game, 5 rebounds a game, 2 steals a game for like 5-7 years

18 ppg, 10 apg, 5 rpg, 2 spg.

name the nba players who have ever averaged that combination of stats in one year let alone 5-7, this is all off the top of my head but i'd imagine the list is short and inhabited by hall of famers

just for those who don't know:

on the season he's averaged 6 assists to 2.5 turnovers (2.4 a:to ratio) and 1.5 steals per 29 minutes a game. a better picture though are his numbers since january when he started to routinely start and play 33 minutes a game. since then he's basically averaged 11 ppg 7.5 apg 5 rpg in 33 minutes a game. he's regularly passing to guys who shoot:

44/37
39/39
50/36
39/18
46/37
39/38
45/35

the ones in bold were significantly the highest volume of shooters

that's everyone but vucevic who is the only competently efficient scorer on the team...oladipo gets this year's josh smith of the year award for most unjustified three pointers, he takes over 3 a game while hitting barely 35%, i can't tell you how many times i've seen payton pass to a wide open oladipo or harris or frye only to see them clank jumpers, payton is getting big assists numbers and relatively low turnover numbers passing to possibly the worst overall outside shooting team in the nba (i questioned the aaron gordon drafting before the draft and after it and now this point of having to give minutes to prospects who can't shoot for shit is just enhanced, gordon is basically the opposite of kyle korver in every way lol)


he creates easy buckets out of a nothing offense or broken play b/c he knifes into the lane easier than any rookie point guard i've seen since damon lillard, and he routinely makes plays on defense and shuts down guys 1 on 1, his lateral quickness plus length and body type (he's got a really quick-twitch type of body, no laboring in his movement) are pretty much unmatched in the point guard position except for russell westbrook (unless d-rose comes back lol?), and he just has a durability about him, i trust him to not get ticky-tack injuries (no jinx)

[peanut butter]

gstate vs atl, nba finals preview potential

Minus Klay and Korver, and I don't think either team can make the finals without those guys




PEACE

[Reason]

gstate vs atl, nba finals preview potential

Minus Klay and Korver, and I don't think either team can make the finals without those guys




PEACE

oh i DEFINITEly don't think either could without them fo sho

but still been a fun game nonetheless

gsw home games and okc home games are always fun to watch because of the home atmosphere...you might be used to it, definitely not jaded cuz there's nothing to be jaded about regarding gstate basketball especially these days, but used to it...the only time i've seen the kind of electricity you guys see on a routine wednesday in barclays was the one playoff win we had last year against the heat

[Reason]

i also think klay thompson is not that far off from being as valuable and as good as curry...he's much closer than most people give him credit for

he's proven he can get his own shot off, get to the line, score efficiently

and he's easily better on defense and more impactful

[peanut butter]

gstate vs atl, nba finals preview potential

Minus Klay and Korver, and I don't think either team can make the finals without those guys




PEACE

oh i DEFINITEly don't think either could without them fo sho

but still been a fun game nonetheless

gsw home games and okc home games are always fun to watch because of the home atmosphere...you might be used to it, definitely not jaded cuz there's nothing to be jaded about regarding gstate basketball especially these days, but used to it...the only time i've seen the kind of electricity you guys see on a routine wednesday in barclays was the one playoff win we had last year against the heat

Went to a game last week and was kinda underwhelmed by the energy in the arena. Then realized I was like 10 rows back in the upper bowl, and was surrounded by people who were fully engaged in the game and basically every seat in the lower bowl was occupied...on a Wednesday night. It occurred to me how I'd just become accustomed to being in a sold out arena thats full of energy for every game, and how different it would be in most every other city of every other team .


PEACE

[Jayou Ayen]

Went to a game last week and was kinda underwhelmed by the energy in the arena. Then realized I was like 10 rows back in the upper bowl, and was surrounded by people who were fully engaged in the game and basically every seat in the lower bowl was occupied...on a Wednesday night. It occurred to me how I'd just become accustomed to being in a sold out arena thats full of energy for every game, and how different it would be in most every other city of every other team .

Is Frisco the only city in the country where all three major sports teams are sold out every night?



39

[alpha]

Great win. If Lee could play any defense at all you'd have think he would be in the rotation.

[Reason]

[naturalborn103]

39 assists on 44 fgm last night for GSW

[b. johnson]

reason: as impressive as those shots are, i am a basketball purist and i hate those shots every time. you don't have to prove to anyone how far you can shoot from, they are only worth 3 points (i know most of them were with the shot clock winding down, but still).

so much bad news for OKC. I swore Durant just had a sprained ankle, not a full on bum foot that would require him to be shut down for the rest of the season. I feel their best case scenario is to get the 8th seed and give the warriors a scare. I don't see how giving up the season would be beneficial for the team.

reggie jackson is an over-thinker. he has the potential, but will need a lot of time to get comfortable in his new role. not sure if it's worth it for the pistons if jennings is coming back healthy next year. Monroe also seemed to have made a good decision to turn down pistons' offer last year (which i thought was stupid because so much bad can happen in one year) because he will be getting paid this off-season.

d wade looking like flash again. i def didn't expect this after looking like an old man the past several years.

[alpha]

It would be beneficial in the fact they'd have their lottery pick right?

[Reason]

reason: as impressive as those shots are, i am a basketball purist and i hate those shots every time. you don't have to prove to anyone how far you can shoot from, they are only worth 3 points (i know most of them were with the shot clock winding down, but still).

hehe your comment was quite interesting b/c those gifs were pulled from an article specifically touting the possibility of a 4 point shot in the nba in the future

anyway came here to post this:

ELFRID PAYTON.

make an all-star in lillard look like a fucking scrub? check.
get into the paint with the greatest of ease wreaking havoc and chaos on the defense? check.
grabbing rebounds over/using quickness people both bigger and smaller than him? check.
and he made 10 of 13 shots tonight #rzntoldyall

[Hayzoos]

Dude you gotta stop bragging about saying highly touted picks will be good players

[alpha]

If only he had a jumper

[capable_keL]

Elfrid Payton is my ROY

[Kid That's Lifeless]

Dude you gotta stop bragging about saying highly touted picks will be good players

Not completely the same, but you couldn't make a post without mentioning Derrick Rose for a solid three years. Keep that in mind.

[Hayzoos]

Dude you gotta stop bragging about saying highly touted picks will be good players

Not completely the same, but you couldn't make a post without mentioning Derrick Rose for a solid three years. Keep that in mind.

That's true, the majority of my posts revolved around Derrick Rose and the Bulls. However, I never claimed to be the only one saying he, as the number one pick in the draft, would be as good as he was which is what reason is doing with Wiggins and now Payton.

[Reason]

Dude you gotta stop bragging about saying highly touted picks will be good players

Not completely the same, but you couldn't make a post without mentioning Derrick Rose for a solid three years. Keep that in mind.

not to mention

1. if you know i have you on ignore, why bother ever referring to me or addressing me or even talkin about me?
2. i'm mostly joking whenever i'm on the #rzntoldyall kick it's just for fun
3. but i'm not joking, fuck yall, don't be a dense asshole and trivialize my prospect powers to "bragging about highly touted picks" get the fuck outta here, everybody was shitting on wiggins and the entire rookie class, a site fucking posted that wiggins might be the worst ever regular starter or some dumb shit like that, and you thought elfrid payton's first name was eldridge
4. but obviously i'm fucking joking, pussy. i just posted about elfrid yesterday and started talkin about how i'm in love with him recently
5. but i'm not joking, you dipshit. i have textual proof in this thread or the offseason one where i broke down how payton was one of my fav prospects comin out and i was definitely teh first motherfucker to talk about how he was underrated and should be drafted higher than where he was projected and i picked him up in my fantasy league early and i was gushing about elfrid before either of his triple doubles a couple weekends ago in person to our very own greggpoppabitch so fuck off #rzntoldyall