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18 hours ago, KoB2011 said:

I am pretty sure Evans will only come off the bench. Who do you think he will start over?

Evans is an upgrade over Lance, but he isnt going to play a ton more minutes. Lance played nearly 23 MPG last year and I'd think whatever Evans plays over that isn't coming at our best players expense. It will be at the expense of Bogey, Joseph and Collison IMO. 

I can see times Evans closes the game but again, not at Vic's expense being the go to guy. It's already reasonable to think Vic will be more efficient and Evans will only help that.

Evans will not start, unless Bojan gets hurt then Tyreke could slide into the SF position. 

Evans will push for roughly 24 to 27 mins per game IMO.  Since he does have a injury risk, I think we will see him playing longer stretches to end the first half and ending the game. 

The closing group will be Vic/Tyreke/Bojan/Thad/Myles with Collison or Cory in at some times depending on game flow and game planning.  This gives you three respectable 3 pt shooters in Vic/Bojan and Myles.  With Vic and Tyreke it gives you two legit playmakers.  With Vic/Tyreke/Thad/Myles this gives you good defense. 

 

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1 hour ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

Evans will not start, unless Bojan gets hurt then Tyreke could slide into the SF position. 

Evans will push for roughly 24 to 27 mins per game IMO.  Since he does have a injury risk, I think we will see him playing longer stretches to end the first half and ending the game. 

The closing group will be Vic/Tyreke/Bojan/Thad/Myles with Collison or Cory in at some times depending on game flow and game planning.  This gives you three respectable 3 pt shooters in Vic/Bojan and Myles.  With Vic and Tyreke it gives you two legit playmakers.  With Vic/Tyreke/Thad/Myles this gives you good defense. 

 

I agree with this completely, I just dont see that cutting into Vic's numbers. 

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So, my one game into the season overreaction, the Sixers are worse than last season. When losing Illyasova and Belinelli, they lost the shooting that made them so effective the second half of last season. 

Unless Fultz somehow turns into a legit star, which I don’t think is going to happen, they have some real problems. Not enough reliable scoring and playmakers, and they don’t have a single guard, in a guards league, that scares you. 

To me Ben Simmons is weird. He’s a freak athlete, he’s incredibly skilled with the ball and he puts up monster stat lines, but as an opponent he doesn’t scare me at all. It’s sort of like Matt Ryan, he’s going to retire with huge numbers, maybe some better than Manning, Brady and Brees, but when playing the Falcons I’m not like, “oh crap, we have to go against Matt Ryan, we don’t have a chance!”

 

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1 hour ago, BGleas said:

So, my one game into the season overreaction, the Sixers are worse than last season. When losing Illyasova and Belinelli, they lost the shooting that made them so effective the second half of last season. 

Unless Fultz somehow turns into a legit star, which I don’t think is going to happen, they have some real problems. Not enough reliable scoring and playmakers, and they don’t have a single guard, in a guards league, that scares you. 

To me Ben Simmons is weird. He’s a freak athlete, he’s incredibly skilled with the ball and he puts up monster stat lines, but as an opponent he doesn’t scare me at all. It’s sort of like Matt Ryan, he’s going to retire with huge numbers, maybe some better than Manning, Brady and Brees, but when playing the Falcons I’m not like, “oh crap, we have to go against Matt Ryan, we don’t have a chance!”

 

Agree with you on the Sixers being worse. I think they'll take the 4 seed with Indy 3. Simmons is a weird one for sure. I have a different take on him (we're both still educated guessing right now). I think he's going to be a legitimate star in the league and he'll break out this season. That's a fair shout on the deluded stat line, but I think he's got the IT factor and his stats are more 'legitimate' than say Westbrooks (probably harsh on Russ but I think you get the idea of what I'm alluding too. 

It's insane how good he is considering he won't even attempt a three and we still have no idea what his real shooting hand is. Mind boggling stuff.

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36 minutes ago, ADegenerate said:

Just ran some goofy numbers and it's going to be almost impossible for Vic to not break 22 PPG. 

Points per shot by year.. 

1.29

1.14

1.185

1.185

1.179

He'd have to take around 15-15.5 shots a game and that's never going to happen. 

I'm confused...your first sentence and last sentence seem to be in conflict?

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53 minutes ago, ADegenerate said:

Agree with you on the Sixers being worse. I think they'll take the 4 seed with Indy 3. Simmons is a weird one for sure. I have a different take on him (we're both still educated guessing right now). I think he's going to be a legitimate star in the league and he'll break out this season. That's a fair shout on the deluded stat line, but I think he's got the IT factor and his stats are more 'legitimate' than say Westbrooks (probably harsh on Russ but I think you get the idea of what I'm alluding too. 

It's insane how good he is considering he won't even attempt a three and we still have no idea what his real shooting hand is. Mind boggling stuff.

Completely agree on Simmons. I didn’t mean he isn’t a legit super star, he’s a phenomenal player. But his biggest weakness, lack of shooting, is a huge, huge weakness. Even with the great passing, court vision, length, etc., he’s manageable for good defenses with length because he’s not a shooter. 

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5 hours ago, The Daily Hoosier said:
Eight Hoosiers on NBA opening night rosters + check out where former stars from around the Big Ten are playing.

Another interesting column that would take some legwork/research to complete is all the former Hoosiers playing for a living outside of the NBA.  I'm curious about Hulls, Sheehey, Blackmon, Watford, Verdell Jones, Zeisloft, Robert Johnson, McSwain and Tim Priller.

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41 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

I'm confused...your first sentence and last sentence seem to be in conflict?

My bad. Didn't convey that very well. So if you take a look at Vic's career progression his shooting / 3pt shooting has progressed steadily every year. He obviously took a major jump last season and scored 1.3 points per shot and took 17.9 shots per game which banked him 23.1ppg. That was the key part I left out and where the 15-15.5 shots per game came from. My mistake. We're probably a year or two away from his prime, so for him not to break 22 points per game he would have to take fewer shots than last season and/or regress in efficiency. He should still have a level or two to jump so if he's at 22 something definitely went wrong. I don't think there's a chance in hell of that happening. It's more probable that he approaches 20 shots and maintains his %'s and maybe slightly lowers them rather than the team taking shots away from him.

 

I think he can max out around 50%, 40%, and 85% (47, 37, and 80 last season) on about 15/16 shots  but I don't think he'll do that because he's young, it's his team, and he has a point to prove so I'm expecting closer to 20 shots.

 

I think 24 is the 'real' O/U.

Edited by ADegenerate
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7 hours ago, FKIM01 said:

Another interesting column that would take some legwork/research to complete is all the former Hoosiers playing for a living outside of the NBA.  I'm curious about Hulls, Sheehey, Blackmon, Watford, Verdell Jones, Zeisloft, Robert Johnson, McSwain and Tim Priller.

I agree that would be good to put down in an article.  Thanks for that idea.  If you are on Twitter you probably know there is a guy that runs a handle called Pro Ball Hoosiers that is a great follow for their game results, and he seems like a great guy.

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8 hours ago, BGleas said:

Completely agree on Simmons. I didn’t mean he isn’t a legit super star, he’s a phenomenal player. But his biggest weakness, lack of shooting, is a huge, huge weakness. Even with the great passing, court vision, length, etc., he’s manageable for good defenses with length because he’s not a shooter. 

Former C Rondo is kind of similar. Rondo was of course a very large part of those C's championships, despite being a poor shooter. I see Simmons as a guy who can be that good, or better. His shooting is a real weakness, but the other aspects of his game are legitimately elite.

Absolutely agree on Sixers being worse, offensively. They lost a couple significant pieces. Last night was one game, and just the first of the year, but that Sixers' team looked to me more like a 4-6 seed than a 3-4 seed. 

I'm interested to see how the C's vs. Raps will work out. If Kawhi stays healthy and gets into his old form, the C's v. Raps series could be really good.

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Thought the graphic they showed during the Celtics-Sixers game last night was interesting... They were talking about the best teams in the East, and flashed Kyrie, Embiid, Kawhi, and Vic.  I think everyone is sleeping on the Bucks... They damn near beat the Celtics last season.  I’ll take them in a 7 game series over the Sixers every time.

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1 hour ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Former C Rondo is kind of similar. Rondo was of course a very large part of those C's championships, despite being a poor shooter. I see Simmons as a guy who can be that good, or better. His shooting is a real weakness, but the other aspects of his game are legitimately elite.

Absolutely agree on Sixers being worse, offensively. They lost a couple significant pieces. Last night was one game, and just the first of the year, but that Sixers' team looked to me more like a 4-6 seed than a 3-4 seed. 

I'm interested to see how the C's vs. Raps will work out. If Kawhi stays healthy and gets into his old form, the C's v. Raps series could be really good.

I loved Rondo on the Celtics and agree on that comparison a bit, the issue for the Sixers though is that Simmons is either their best or at worst 2nd best player. It will be tough in this day and age to win a championship or even really compete for one seriously if your best (or second best) player can't shoot outside the paint. Rondo was the 4th or even 5th scoring option on those Celtics teams and was surrounded by HOF'er scorers. 

If Fultz can develop into a guard that you can rely on 20ppg+ from, to go along with Embiid, then it will work with Simmons as the distributor/swiss army knife guy, but right now Emiid is the only legit, consistent All-Star level scorer they have. Simmons is an All-Star for sure, but not a consistent scorer. 

 

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I agree with the knee jerk sentiment that the 76ers may have regressed. Also pretty scary how good the Celts are on defense and what they can do even when guys have off nights. 

I still think a few teams in the East will have a better individual player than the Celts so that can make for interesting series but the Celts are clearly the favorite. 

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22 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

I agree with the knee jerk sentiment that the 76ers may have regressed. Also pretty scary how good the Celts are on defense and what they can do even when guys have off nights. 

I still think a few teams in the East will have a better individual player than the Celts so that can make for interesting series but the Celts are clearly the favorite. 

The Celtics just have so much length all over the court, it's pretty amazing what they can do defensively. I would agree on a few teams having a better individual player (Giannis, Embiid, Leonard), but mainly just because Kyrie looks to me like he's regressing. He's still an All-Star, but he looked out of shape and soft to me last night. His body looked like he hasn't been in a weight room in a while.

The flip side is that I would not be surprised if in 2-3 years Tatum is a top 5 player in the NBA. He's a flat-out stud, and it's crazy that both Philly and LA passed on him. 

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5 hours ago, BGleas said:

The Celtics just have so much length all over the court, it's pretty amazing what they can do defensively. I would agree on a few teams having a better individual player (Giannis, Embiid, Leonard), but mainly just because Kyrie looks to me like he's regressing. He's still an All-Star, but he looked out of shape and soft to me last night. His body looked like he hasn't been in a weight room in a while.

The flip side is that I would not be surprised if in 2-3 years Tatum is a top 5 player in the NBA. He's a flat-out stud, and it's crazy that both Philly and LA passed on him. 

Yeah, I just dont think Kyrie has ever been on that level. He has actually improved from a terrible defender to almost average, but he still isnt a great distributor. He really is just an elite scoring PG but I have no reason to think he could ever carry a team on his own like Leonard, Giannis or even Vic. 

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1 hour ago, KoB2011 said:

Yeah, I just dont think Kyrie has ever been on that level. He has actually improved from a terrible defender to almost average, but he still isnt a great distributor. He really is just an elite scoring PG but I have no reason to think he could ever carry a team on his own like Leonard, Giannis or even Vic. 

I think he has been on that second tier (8-15) of star level. I'm not putting him in the LeBron, Durant,  Curry or Kawai (when he's right) category, of course. 

He's certainly more one-dimensional than some guys (Vic, Greek Freak, etc.), but he is an elite scorer and ball handler. In his defense, he did average 27ppg in the Finals in 2016, including making the championship winning shot in Game 7. 

Also last season, while certainly more talented than the Bucks and Pacers in terms of the rest of the roster, Kyrie was the leader of a team that finished 2nd in the conference, and was considered a mid-level playoff team after Hayward went down 5 minutes into the season. 

Vic is certainly a more all-around player, no doubt, but Kyrie is far more proven at this level in terms of being a star and leading teams. 

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