2014-15 NBA Off-Season Thread

[naturalborn103]

Yea I was thinkin of them both as wings when talkin about them on the same team. Especially if the Bucks have Sanders and Henson and Ilyasova to share time at the 4/5 spots.


PEACE

That would be some terrible spacing, but has to be one of the longest starting lineups ever.

Wings are pretty much interchangeable, so doesn't really matter who is 2 and who is 3.

[Gregg Popabitch]

wings are interchangeable depending on what type of system you have.....so I don't necessarily agree with that.

[peanut butter]

Ilyasova is one of the best shooting big men in the game. He wouldn't help space the floor if Henson or Sanders were in the post and Giannis/Wiggins were at the wings?



PEACE

[Reason]

larry need to stop smokin weed first tho

[peanut butter]

Fuck that. Larry's leading a Free The Herb campaign, and that's necessary. What he really needs to do is get the spelling errors on his tattoos fixed, stop fightin in the clubs and take better care of his pets.


PEACE

[peanut butter]

Dragic gets Most Improved Player. Dont know if its actually correct, but he deserves an award for the way he played



PEACE

[peanut butter]

The play by play broadcaster for the Clippers voted Kevin Durant, Lebron James and Blake Griffin in order for most improved player


PEACE

[Gregg Popabitch]

Well, both Durant and Blake definitely did improve this season. It's a weird award to try to figure out and vote for.

[peanut butter]

Well, both Durant and Blake definitely did improve this season. It's a weird award to try to figure out and vote for.

Yea but I don't think that's really the spirit of the award tho


PEACE

[unclebengi]

Fuck that. Larry's leading a Free The Herb campaign, and that's necessary. What he really needs to do is get the spelling errors on his tattoos fixed, stop fightin in the clubs and take better care of his pets.


PEACE

POTW

[Gregg Popabitch]

Why haven't we started a discussion about Mike Scott's emoji tattoos?

[Gregg Popabitch]

BTW the POTW was Rzn's Bulls rap edit of Hayzoos' post that was deleted by him and made me sad. I wish we could have preserved it in the same ember that the mosquitos from Jurassic park were held in.

[Gregg Popabitch]

Well, both Durant and Blake definitely did improve this season. It's a weird award to try to figure out and vote for.

Yea but I don't think that's really the spirit of the award tho


PEACE

IDK. A lot of people thought that Durant was the 2nd best player in the NBA but did anyone think Durant would make it a discussion so soon? While Lebron was in the midst of his prime?

That type of improvement is impressive as fuck to me.

I give that dude kudos for thinking outside the box.

Then I take it away for including Lebron.

[naturalborn103]

@clippstvsmith: @Ben_Baskin must've been a mistake. Those were my MVP votes. Most improved, I voted for Davis First Dragic second

[Gregg Popabitch]

NEVERMIND THEN

[Big Breeze]

Any Aaron Gordon fans out there? I'm not a fan of his game. He's athletic, hustles, and rebounds, but lacks offensive polish. He's going to get a chance to develop because he's going to get drafted high. If he can work on his deficiencies he can be a player in this league. Right now he'll be a change of energy role player off the bench. Someone you don't have to run plays for, who will get points in transition.

I see more Kenneth Faried then Blake Griffin him. The BG comparisons come because he's light-skindededed.

[Gregg Popabitch]

Any Aaron Gordon fans out there? I'm not a fan of his game. He's athletic, hustles, and rebounds, but lacks offensive polish. He's going to get a chance to develop because he's going to get drafted high. If he can work on his deficiencies he can be a player in this league. Right now he'll be a change of energy role player off the bench. Someone you don't have to run plays for, who will get points in transition.

I see more Kenneth Faried then Blake Griffin him. The BG comparisons come because he's light-skindededed.

I've seen a lot of his games (I've seen a lot of Zona games in general) and you bring up some good general points.

The Kenneth Faried comp is off mainly because he is much better defensively than Faried is and he's more skilled as well. Faried is a meh defender. Gordon will come in and be a plus defender right away. Also, if he plays PF, his ball handling will be upper tier for sure imo. His passing ability is also top notch.

However, his lack of polish is purely with scoring the ball. His jump shot is not very good, he has no post game, and he's not very good at creating his own shot. He hit threes in college but they were all college 3s and he's not totally confident in taking them. Most of those 3s were also assisted. He really needs to acquire a scoring skill of some sort and improve his jump shot in order to be a really good player in this draft but the the fact that there is more open space in the pro game will help him. Keep in mind that he's probably the youngest player in this draft by far. He's still 18 years old and won't be 19 until September.

earlier in the season, someone made the comp to Shawn Marion. If things can break the right way, I like that comp but he needs to play with a really good PG in order to realize that potential. if he doesn't hit that best case scenario, being a much better version of faried isn't bad.

Honestly, I don't see Nick Johnson getting a lot of pub as a first rounder and I like him a lot. Most places have him in the second round. I think that'd be a mistake. He'd make for a great third guard off someone's bench in his prime.

EDIT: My friend is an Zona alum and he is who I watch most of their games with. I asked him who the best comp is and he said something a long the lines of "This is a little outside of the box but he's a shorter version of Joakim Noah whose jumper extends out a bit further." I like this comp because it captures Gordon's defensive prowess, rebounding ability, ball handling ability that is great outside of their position, and passing ability (thought not as great as Noah's) as well. Also, Gordon is more athletic than Noah.

[Big Breeze]

Good shit, Popabitch. Comparisons are always common, but they are hard to narrow because someone may lack in a certain area to the standard bearer or vice versa.

I don't like Gordon at the 3 at all. I agree that he'll have to make his living at the 4. At 6-8/6-9ish, the NBA game now for forwards in that range are skilled and can make plays. Big guys are not en vogue anymore, which is why Jahlil Okafor may struggle in the NBA, partly because he's not a great athlete, but he's an improving one. I don't think Okaforis a great defender either and that's a different story all together.


By the way, I grew up with Ortege (O.J.) Jenkins who was a quarterback on the football team at U of A back in the day. He also was a walk-on with the basketball team when the won it all in '97. That fool was one of the greatest athletes I ever seen in my life. He was dunking on folks in middle school and he was already about 6-2 then.

Rick Anderson is someone I know well that played at Arizona when Luke Walton among other people were there.

Later in life I met my people Rod Lewis, Melvin Smith and Arnulf Mobley who played when Tedy Bruschi was there. Rod played in the NFL for 4 years with the Oilers and the Titans when they moved to Tennessee.

[Gregg Popabitch]

I don't think Gordon will be able to play the 3 consistently. He just doesn't have the scoring ability or shooting to be able to play there for 20-30 minutes a night. He'll be able to guard them though....as well as 2s and some 1s imo. His lateral quickness is legitimate and one reason why i really like that noah comparison.

My boy played pickup with Salim Stoudamire and Hassan Adams a couple times.

[Big Breeze]

Mitch McGary declares for the NBA because he tests positive for weed during the NCAA tournament. Since the NCAA administered the test instead of his school, he's subject to a one-year suspension. That's the dumbest shit ever.


Harrison twins are returning to UK. Great decision on their part. The Cats are going to be stacked next year.


DeAndre Daniels declares for the draft. I wish him the best of luck, but I don't like the move. He's four years out of high school because he went to a prep school before his three years at UConn, so I understand it, but I disagree with it. More than likely he'll be playing in Europe in 2-3 years.

[Blockhead]

This brain fart isn't worth it's own thread but I'm curious what you guys think. I was reading that thread in p&B where we're all defending basketball and Gloss bought up the talent level being better then , then now. Now, I don't agree with that at all but arguing it seems pointless.
But here's the idea:
If you took a dude like Demar derozen , as he is now, and time warped him into 1988, how do you think he'd do? I'm thinking he'd put up 'Nique like numbers but maybe I'm bugging. Would his insane athleticism translate into dominance in that era?

[alpha]

They played a whole different kind of basket ball back then. The bad boys wouldn't make it out of the did first half the way they call the game now. Plus there were less teams. So I guess I'm saying I have no idea

[Hayzoos]

The game is way better today dude. There's a reason Jordan thought a guy like Adam Morrison or Kwame Brown was gonna light up the NBA, it's because he would've dominated in the 80s. Like I said in that thread, most basketball hate is just low key racism and phony machismo. Hockey fans are generally the worst, and hockey culture is so fucking gay.

That Charles Oakley/Laimbeer shit isn't basketball, the game is more pure from a basketball standpoint now and I think that the product on the floor is better as a result. Who wants to see dudes wrestle and tossup bad isolated mid range shots for 48 minutes?

[peanut butter]

This brain fart isn't worth it's own thread but I'm curious what you guys think. I was reading that thread in p&B where we're all defending basketball and Gloss bought up the talent level being better then , then now. Now, I don't agree with that at all but arguing it seems pointless.
But here's the idea:
If you took a dude like Demar derozen , as he is now, and time warped him into 1988, how do you think he'd do? I'm thinking he'd put up 'Nique like numbers but maybe I'm bugging. Would his insane athleticism translate into dominance in that era?

I'm under the impression that in every sport, we're witnessing the highest level of athletic performance ever. So the further away you get 2013, the better any given modern player would be in that setting. So Demar Derozan would likely be a perennial allstar in the 80s. And the other side of that equation is that players who were considered great in past eras would be considerably less impressive if they played in the current league. Like Joe Dumars would be a seventh man in today's NBA, and Vinny Johnson would be playing in Europe. Of course style of play would have an impact on just how great current players would be. So obviously a more physical and loosely refereed game would impair a guy like Derozan's ability to dominate, to some degree. But athletes are so much bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, talented and disciplined than any other time in history, guys from previous eras would have no answer for that.


PEACE

[capable_keL]

There's a reason Jordan thought a guy like Adam Morrison or Kwame Brown was gonna light up the NBA, it's because he would've dominated in the 80s.

you have no idea what you're talking about.

[peanut butter]

There's a reason Jordan thought a guy like Adam Morrison or Kwame Brown was gonna light up the NBA, it's because he would've dominated in the 80s.

you have no idea what you're talking about.

Missed that part. Excellent.


PEACE

[Hayzoos]

Those were probably not the best examples, but what would separate a guy like Tyreke Evans from Oscar Robertson? Before the 80s guys were still dribbling with one hand.

[capable_keL]

Before the 80s guys were still dribbling with one hand.

sir...please stop

[peanut butter]

Oh fuck




PEACE

[an-also]