2014-15 NBA Off-Season Thread

[alpha]

You're usually spot on man. I like Parker tho, so I'm hoping you're wrong.

[Reason]

i like him just don't love him

he's probably not that much more athletic than doug mcdermott but that whole black/white perception thing fucks people up

at one point he had a fast break 2 on 1 with greek freak who hit him off with a pretty nice past as he crossed the free throw line and jabari was on his left and the lone defender jumped and did his typical all-body no hands not-a-foul defense that any capable offensive player would have taken the body and still layed the ball in easily. jabari took the contact in the air but his burst into his defender was very average and so when he made the body contact mid-air he had very little height and his lay-up went early off the backboard then clanged short off the rim. he didn't have enough quick-twitch athleticism to (a) get his body higher for a higher, more makeable release point or (b) adjust his body mid-air (e.g. double pump lay-up)

wiggins would have either finished over that regular-ass defense or gotten fouled

[alpha]

League pass must watch teams have to be wolves and bucks tho. I'm too drunk to even reply more than that.

[Reason]

omg kevin durant with the first chink in his armor

russell about to go crazy

[peanut butter]

PEACE

[capable_keL]

regarding Durant's broken foot: a part of me has always wanted to see what Westbrook can do without KD

[Reason]

^^
oh hell yea russ bout to go all russ on us

[alpha]

yup shits gonna be crazy

[Reason]

for the 6-8 weeks durant is out, what will russell's numbers be?

my guess: 33 ppg, 6 apg, 5 rpg, 44% fg

[naturalborn103]

[alpha]

Russ gonna Russ

[capable_keL]

[Reason]

[drobizhek]

Can't wait.

[peanut butter]

PEACE

[Reason]

PEACE

hhahahah

[naturalborn103]

i like him just don't love him

he's probably not that much more athletic than doug mcdermott but that whole black/white perception thing fucks people up

at one point he had a fast break 2 on 1 with greek freak who hit him off with a pretty nice past as he crossed the free throw line and jabari was on his left and the lone defender jumped and did his typical all-body no hands not-a-foul defense that any capable offensive player would have taken the body and still layed the ball in easily. jabari took the contact in the air but his burst into his defender was very average and so when he made the body contact mid-air he had very little height and his lay-up went early off the backboard then clanged short off the rim. he didn't have enough quick-twitch athleticism to (a) get his body higher for a higher, more makeable release point or (b) adjust his body mid-air (e.g. double pump lay-up)

wiggins would have either finished over that regular-ass defense or gotten fouled

Wiggins was pretty terrible finishing through contact at the rim in college.

[Reason]

wanna rethink that post or elaborate? think very carefully about the difference between college/nba when reconsidering your answer or using any small sample statistic

also are kel, pb, and i the only ones watching preseason games? are yall really ignorant to think preseason means nothing? you think there is no correlation between the warriors amazing preseason vs the lakers' terrible one and how they will perform in the season? ditto goes for bulls being good (oh man pau with thibz is amazing) or bucks being terrible

[Reason]

i realize thise assessments r obvious and dont require watching games to predict but u still can use the preseason eye test and confirmation instead of assuming things (directed to nobody in general)

[capable_keL]

like i said last page, Wiggins' game was made for the pros

I have been watching 1-2 preseason games/night... there are trends already happening folks

[Reason]

^^
exactly (re: trends)

anyway

"One of the things I'm smart enough to realize is we're not going to replace Kevin's offensive efficiency, his scoring, his playmaking, his defense," Brooks said. "But what we can do as a group is get better, so that when he does come back, when he's ready to come back, we can be a better team."

wow scotty. you're a fucking genius, bro. truly SMART

[peanut butter]

I'mma be real, I have barely caught very much preseason at all so far. One full Dubs game, the Mavs-Rockets, I think some Sixers, whatever. Baseball has basically consumed like all my sports interest at the moment. But I'm ready as fuck for this season tho. Most excited I've been for games to start in a minute



PEACE

[Reason]

I'mma be real, I have barely caught very much preseason at all so far. One full Dubs game, the Mavs-Rockets, I think some Sixers, whatever. Baseball has basically consumed like all my sports interest at the moment. But I'm ready as fuck for this season tho. Most excited I've been for games to start in a minute



PEACE

word i hear you, and nobody would blame your giants fan-being, baseball-loving ass

but you still fit in some games

anyway, the real reason i replied to your post specifically is to share my opinion that the warriors are going to the western conference finals this year (assuming they don't have to play the spurs the first two rounds, which i don't think they will b/c i think they will finish 1-2 in west)

[Reason]

my first guess (i'm pretty set in the west...my east teams 5 through 8 change every other minute though)

1. san antonio
2. golden state
3. la clippers
4. oklahoma city
5. dallas
6. houston
7. memphis
8. phoenix or portland can't call it

1. cleveland
2. chicago
3. miami
4. washington
5. toronto
6. new york
7. detroit
8. indiana

[Reason]

oh man chicago might just be #1 in the east this year, well, especially if rose is healthy

b/c this frontcourt is a fucking monster

taj gibson
pau gasol
nikola mirotic
joakim noah
tony snell
doug mcdermott
mike dunleavy

so let me get this right. at any point in the game you will have a sf/pf/c combination that can all at the same time while on the floor together:

1. shoot from range
2. pass
3. defend the paint
4. defend the perimeter
5. rebound

very rare, very versatile, very skilled, very deep.

then you couple this overall fact with the fact that the coach is the man who fooled everyone into thinking kendrick perkins was an all-world defender - tom thibodeau aka best coach not named poppovich

this might be stupidreg's least hating-est year yet :-p

[stupidregister]

First things first, Rose is going to be fine. It's going to take a little time to shake the rust but I fully expect him to be back to an elite level within a couple months at the most, it's not even a question in my mind.

They're a shoe-in for the ECF, everyone knows it. The East is a joke, Cleveland-Chicago is a formality.

Carlos Boozer is gone which makes this team infinitely better in terms of depth, defense, and overall chemistry. It will make for less entertaining SR posts but it's worth it.

I wasn't super high on Gasol but he's definitely an upgrade and compliments Noah and Rose well so overall it's a good move. Defense and heart is a question but you can't help it on this team, everyone else is doing it and Thibs won't put up with it.
Miro just adds another level of front line depth that most teams can't compete with. I wonder how significant his impact will be but he could be a great 6th man.
McD is a nice little pickup but again, what's his ceiling, Wally Szczerbiak? Can he really shoulder the scoring load?

This team will win 60+ games because that's just how Thibs does it and because the East blows. I hope he'll take it easy but they'll probably want the #1 seed and will have to compete with Cleveland all the way till the end.

My biggest concerns are still offensively. I don't think they fully addressed getting a legit perimeter scorer to compliment Rose but we'll see if McD can fill that role. I think he's better suited to play off the passing and get a bunch of open looks and not create his own shot or take defenses on. Maybe the team is convinced that their defense can make up for their shortcomings offensively but that's a big if. They've played that game before and lost.

Looking ahead, the team matches up well against Cleveland and their advantage is again up front (Miami's weakness when LeBron was there). They can throw plenty of guys at Love, Butler matches up against LeBron and I guess Rose will just give up 40 to Kyrie while getting 40 of his own. Thankfully the team defense is elite so maybe they can make up for it but aside from Butler, perimeter defense (specifically defending LeBron) is lacking now that Deng is gone.

I'm biased as a Bulls fan but I personally think they're better than Cleveland, specifically because of their depth and team defense. Regardless, they're one of the 3 of 4 best teams in the league and I actually believe they're title contenders unlike the last 3-4 years. Even when Rose was healthy and MVPing, they weren't the best in the league. This year they actually might be and it's not unrealistic to expect a title.

[Reason]

I'm biased as a Bulls fan but I personally think they're better than Cleveland, specifically because of their depth and team defense. Regardless, they're one of the 3 of 4 best teams in the league and I actually believe they're title contenders unlike the last 3-4 years. Even when Rose was healthy and MVPing, they weren't the best in the league. This year they actually might be and it's not unrealistic to expect a title.

I fully agree. I definitely think Chicago is a better TEAM if Rose is healthy which brings me to:

First things first, Rose is going to be fine. It's going to take a little time to shake the rust but I fully expect him to be back to an elite level within a couple months at the most, it's not even a question in my mind.

I fully agree*

*except you didn't mention once the possibility of re-injury/other injuries. this is the ONLY caveat imo

and as the resident self-proclaimed prospect-knower: doug mcdermott is a more athletic, weaker wally Z if that helps, stupidreg. i fully expect him to be just as efficient a scorer on this team

in fact, thibz over flip saunders alone will make him have at least as significant as a career as wally's

[naturalborn103]

wanna rethink that post or elaborate? think very carefully about the difference between college/nba when reconsidering your answer or using any small sample statistic

I like wiggins more then him, but Nate Duncan describes his trouble at the rim pretty good.
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/2014- ... ng-report/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While he is a fantastic leaper with great length, he does not often translate those physical gifts into finishing that befits them. One interesting study by Dean Demakis, conducted through January 31*, showed that Wiggins had dunked on only three of 44 finishes at the rim in the halfcourt. During the season, he really only had two or three spectacular dunks on an opposing defender. But more troubling than the relative paucity of dunks is how many layups he misses. Great finishers have a knack for it, possessing the ability to feel the defense and maneuver the ball and their body to avoid the block and still make the shot. Wiggins just does not have that feel right now, and he misses a ton of layups. The video below (also by Demakis) shows a number of Wiggins’ missed layups. It is truly disconcerting how many easy finishes he simply cannot convert. He shot 63 percent at the rim according to Hoop-Math.com, a disappointing figure for a player of his athleticism who gets out in transition as often as he does.

[Reason]

wanna rethink that post or elaborate? think very carefully about the difference between college/nba when reconsidering your answer or using any small sample statistic

I like wiggins more then him, but Nate Duncan describes his trouble at the rim pretty good.
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/2014- ... ng-report/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While he is a fantastic leaper with great length, he does not often translate those physical gifts into finishing that befits them. One interesting study by Dean Demakis, conducted through January 31*, showed that Wiggins had dunked on only three of 44 finishes at the rim in the halfcourt. During the season, he really only had two or three spectacular dunks on an opposing defender. But more troubling than the relative paucity of dunks is how many layups he misses. Great finishers have a knack for it, possessing the ability to feel the defense and maneuver the ball and their body to avoid the block and still make the shot. Wiggins just does not have that feel right now, and he misses a ton of layups. The video below (also by Demakis) shows a number of Wiggins’ missed layups. It is truly disconcerting how many easy finishes he simply cannot convert. He shot 63 percent at the rim according to Hoop-Math.com, a disappointing figure for a player of his athleticism who gets out in transition as often as he does.

lol, this is WAY too easy. no, natty. he did not explain it "very good":

defending wiggins here is beyond easy.

- the biggest reason is terrible point guard play. in fact, non-existent. NOBODY said wiggins can take people off the dribble like lebron or even durant. so given that fact, nobody is asking him to do that right? cool.

WIGGINS HAD THE WORST POINT GUARDS. he had NO FUCKING HELP from point. so let me get this straight, your'e asking a guy who doesn't have those dribble-drive or move-separation skills yet to be judged on that very skill we already admitted he doesn't have quite developed yet at this point?

LOOK AT THE VIDEO. almost ALL of the misses are on these dribble-drive moves, their point guard play is so pathetic these are almost all plays where it's literally the point guard at the top of the key passing him the ball to the wing and then wiggins driving past his initial man on sheer speed alone and then getting bumped by two or more defenders near the hoop.

- wiggins PLAYED AGAINST ZONE DEFENSES THAT COULD COLLAPSE FIVE PEOPLE ON YOU LEGALLY BY THE TIME YOU GOT TO THE RIM (that was my "think carefully about the difference between nba and college" point, well, among other differences)

- again look at the video. second play of the video. wiggins is FOULED before he goes into the jumpstop into 2 defenders before missing. third play of the video?. AGAIN FOULED on his lay-up attempt. there are SO many non-calls during the season that would've been fouls in the nba because of superior referees and should've been fouls well before some of his attempts even went up. in the nba he's going to cause so many teams to get into the penalty and just go to the line like a machine.

- he's EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD IN THESE VIDEOS. turned 19 in late february.

- that video shows highlights from 6 conference games, typically the toughest of the 'regular season' schedule, 3 of which were on the road

- as far as nate duncan? he's the most sterile, harmless writer i've ever read. he's like a stenograph. and the fact that he referenced "3 or 4 spectacular dunks" as an actual criticism or point is hilarious. wtf does 'spectacular' mean in the context of being good at basketball? he didn't have flashy dunks so he should be worried about? fuck outta here. wiggins personality is NOT flashy. he doesn't try to do windmills or double pumps or what have you - he didn't in high school, he didn't in high school all-star/aau events, he never did. the fact that this faggot thinks 'spectacular dunks' are relevant is all i have to say about any validity behind his point. if you ever read his articles they read like data from star trek wrote them. he never makes a bold or unique observation and he doesn't go in-depth to actually shed light on something others may not have seen. he's a regurgitating lawyer faggot.

- wiggins has grown in height and bulk and weight

- wiggins has clearly improved his handle

- WIGGINS IS PLAYING WITH RICKY FUCKING RUBIO

RICKY RUBIO.

let's see how worried you are about wiggins' ability to finish around the rim in the season when he's in space with actual teammates who can pass

- btw i love how there is no follow-up video showing his 41 points against west virginia, etc. in fact the VERY next 10-12 games he is basically unfuckwithable and is finishing all over motherfuckers or getting the calls AVERAGING 10 FREE THROW ATTEMPTS A GAME after averaging only 7 the rest of the games before that.

- if you watched thepreseason twolves games you wouldn't worry for half a second, wiggins is a fucking freak and he knows how to use/move/protect/leverage his body with extreme balance, he's an absolute freak in every way athletically, i'm convinced he could be a gymnast

i've said it before and i'll say it again. i honestly don't think i've ever seen anyone SECOND jump for a putback of his own lay-up before any defender jumped for a FIRST time...since rodman i guess, but i dunno, i saw him mostly in san antonio/chicago when he was slightly less athletic and he wasn't a guy who put up his own shot much (although when he did he often padded his offensive rebounds hehe), maybe he did that shit routinely on detroit though





^^

just look at the couple plays there he gets fouls (correctly) called in his favor. NO FUCKING WAY those would have been called fouls by some of those bum-ass college refs swayed by home fans cheering a thousand times louder than any nba crowd but okc's. just re-watched this video after posting it and had to point it out cuz it was so fitting.

[alpha]

I've been watching the Giants mostly, but who else has the dubs besides PB?