NBA Thread

[dwtaylor1055]

15 hours ago, NotIThatLives said:

Who are you talking about?  Yogi' s number are all down across the board.  

http://www2.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/nemanja-bjelica-deal-agreement-sixers-76ers-backs-out-minnesota-timberwolves-20180717.html

[NotIThatLives]

1 hour ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

http://www2.philly.com/philly/sports/sixers/nemanja-bjelica-deal-agreement-sixers-76ers-backs-out-minnesota-timberwolves-20180717.html

I never heard of that cat going to have to keep an eye on him going forward. Buddy hield isn't doing too bad after year year 4

[dwtaylor1055]

2 minutes ago, NotIThatLives said:

I never heard of that cat going to have to keep an eye on him going forward. Buddy hield isn't doing too bad after year year 4

He played with the Timberwolves last season.  a big man that can nail the 3 pointer which is what they lost with Illyasova last year.  Philly will have to rely heavily on their starters.  At least Indy has respectable bench players aka Sabonis, Evans, Joseph.   

[BGleas]

21 hours ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

Philly IMO is the weaker team out of Boston/Toronto/Bucks/Pacers/76ers(my predicted top 5 for the east).  Losing Marco Belinelli and Ersan IIyasova really hurt them and the guy that backed out of a deal during this past offseason is rolling in Sacramento.  I do agree that the Bucks are rolling and will be a tough out, the new coach seems to have really brought out another level of Giannis.  I think the Pacers get the 4 seed and beat the 76ers in the 1st round and face Toronto in round 2. 

You could make the argument that the West is no longer the better conference, or at least that it's evened out to where there isn't much difference. Golden State is clearly the best team, but after that in the West Houston got worse, San Antonio got worse, at least until Roberson comes bask, OKC is overrated/worse. Denver and Utah are both a little better, as well as New Orleans and maybe Portland, and of course, the Lakers are the elephant in the room as they will improve, but they're not a dominant team, but the West IMO got worse over the offseason. 

In the East Toronto is clearly better, Milwaukee certainly upgraded on the bench and is better, Boston will be better as they gel with Kyrie and Hayward back, and I think Indiana is better simply due to Vic being more comfortable as a 'star', Sabonis developing and some of the moves they made to strengthen their bench. I do think Philly got worse.

I'm sure it will change, most likely in the West, but if you matched up the top 4 current teams in each conference (Golden St., Denver, Utah, SA vs. Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston, Indiana) there's not much difference. Again, Golden State is the most dominant, but after that, you could maybe say the East has the next best 3-4 teams currently. 

[BobSaccamanno]

Three teams I consider up and coming are Denver, Utah, and Milwaukee.  These three teams look to be on the rise.  Utah's organization in particular has done a great job building that team, without super high picks, frankly.  Utah may have a very high ceiling down the line.  

I would have thought Minnesota was on track to be in that grouping, but they seem like a chemistry mess even though they've got some good parts.

I didn't see it but heard that Leonard absolutely dominated Ben Simmons the other day.  Toronto is a very, very scary team, and don't rule out they re-sign Leonard because the money difference may be significant.  

Edited November 2, 2018 by BobSaccamanno

[Hoosierhoopster]

35 minutes ago, BGleas said:

You could make the argument that the West is no longer the better conference, or at least that it's evened out to where there isn't much difference. Golden State is clearly the best team, but after that in the West Houston got worse, San Antonio got worse, at least until Roberson comes bask, OKC is overrated/worse. Denver and Utah are both a little better, as well as New Orleans and maybe Portland, and of course, the Lakers are the elephant in the room as they will improve, but they're not a dominant team, but the West IMO got worse over the offseason. 

In the East Toronto is clearly better, Milwaukee certainly upgraded on the bench and is better, Boston will be better as they gel with Kyrie and Hayward back, and I think Indiana is better simply due to Vic being more comfortable as a 'star', Sabonis developing and some of the moves they made to strengthen their bench. I do think Philly got worse.

I'm sure it will change, most likely in the West, but if you matched up the top 4 current teams in each conference (Golden St., Denver, Utah, SA vs. Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston, Indiana) there's not much difference. Again, Golden State is the most dominant, but after that, you could maybe say the East has the next best 3-4 teams currently. 

The West is still better and if you put those East teams in the West they'd clearly do worse.

GS, New Orleans, Denver, Utah, Thunder (they'll certainly be very good when Roberson comes back, easily a top 3-4 D if not better), Spurs are still good - just look at what they've done so far, Portland is supposed to be worse and may be but they're playing very well (and they went into IN's house and won), and hell even Sacto looks pretty good. Houston is absolutely worse, the loss of Ariza in particular coupled with the subtraction by addition, Melo, weakens them, but they haven't been healthy. When they get healthy, they're a playoff team. New Orleans has faltered a bit, but they're very good and Unibrow has been nursing an elbow injury. Denver looks really good and getting better. Utah is tough. 

East - C's, Toronto, Bucks, Pacers, Sixers and then a monumental drop off. How many of these teams do well in the West? Next up, who? Pistons, Wiz, Hornets, Miami? Bucks looks very good, Pacers are deeper, Toronto and C's are beasts. But the Sixers are clearly worse, their loss of those 2 guys was big. I'd put both the Bucks and Pacers ahead of them, and I'd bet they'll struggle against West teams. 

[5fouls]

I think the West is already something like plus 10 on the East in the standings.  That said, I think the East could make a case for having 3 of the top 4 teams in the league.

[BGleas]

39 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The West is still better and if you put those East teams in the West they'd clearly do worse.

GS, New Orleans, Denver, Utah, Thunder (they'll certainly be very good when Roberson comes back, easily a top 3-4 D if not better), Spurs are still good - just look at what they've done so far, Portland is supposed to be worse and may be but they're playing very well (and they went into IN's house and won), and hell even Sacto looks pretty good. Houston is absolutely worse, the loss of Ariza in particular coupled with the subtraction by addition, Melo, weakens them, but they haven't been healthy. When they get healthy, they're a playoff team. New Orleans has faltered a bit, but they're very good and Unibrow has been nursing an elbow injury. Denver looks really good and getting better. Utah is tough. 

East - C's, Toronto, Bucks, Pacers, Sixers and then a monumental drop off. How many of these teams do well in the West? Next up, who? Pistons, Wiz, Hornets, Miami? Bucks looks very good, Pacers are deeper, Toronto and C's are beasts. But the Sixers are clearly worse, their loss of those 2 guys was big. I'd put both the Bucks and Pacers ahead of them, and I'd bet they'll struggle against West teams. 

I should have clarified better, I meant the tops of the conferences. Completely agree that the West is deeper and the East has a big drop after the first 4-5 teams. But, I think you can argue that the East's top 4 is a stronger collective 4 than the West's. Again of course, Golden State is clearly #1, but I think Toronto and Boston, especially once they all gel with Kyrie and Hayward back which is admittedly taking some time, are the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the NBA, and then it's probably a toss-up between Indiana, Denver, Utah and New Orleans for that next spot. 

[IU Scott]

3 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The West is still better and if you put those East teams in the West they'd clearly do worse.

GS, New Orleans, Denver, Utah, Thunder (they'll certainly be very good when Roberson comes back, easily a top 3-4 D if not better), Spurs are still good - just look at what they've done so far, Portland is supposed to be worse and may be but they're playing very well (and they went into IN's house and won), and hell even Sacto looks pretty good. Houston is absolutely worse, the loss of Ariza in particular coupled with the subtraction by addition, Melo, weakens them, but they haven't been healthy. When they get healthy, they're a playoff team. New Orleans has faltered a bit, but they're very good and Unibrow has been nursing an elbow injury. Denver looks really good and getting better. Utah is tough. 

East - C's, Toronto, Bucks, Pacers, Sixers and then a monumental drop off. How many of these teams do well in the West? Next up, who? Pistons, Wiz, Hornets, Miami? Bucks looks very good, Pacers are deeper, Toronto and C's are beasts. But the Sixers are clearly worse, their loss of those 2 guys was big. I'd put both the Bucks and Pacers ahead of them, and I'd bet they'll struggle against West teams. 

Pacers also went into SA and spanked them as well.

Edited November 2, 2018 by IU Scott

[Hoosierhoopster]

2 hours ago, BGleas said:

I should have clarified better, I meant the tops of the conferences. Completely agree that the West is deeper and the East has a big drop after the first 4-5 teams. But, I think you can argue that the East's top 4 is a stronger collective 4 than the West's. Again of course, Golden State is clearly #1, but I think Toronto and Boston, especially once they all gel with Kyrie and Hayward back which is admittedly taking some time, are the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the NBA, and then it's probably a toss-up between Indiana, Denver, Utah and New Orleans for that next spot. 

That's certainly fair -- debatable but fair. I'd include OKC in that toss-up group, assuming OKC gets Roberson back healthy and otherwise is healthy. They should be very good once the full team is together.

Toronto and Boston look like they can contend with anyone, and I'm including GS. I'm not sure where I'd put the P's or Bucks as of right now -- they may be there with Denver, Utah, OKC, and New Orleans, but they haven't been tested yet against those teams. The P's have looked good, but they've also struggled and already lost to Dame's team. They seem to be still searching for their collective identity with the new guys and Vic, in terms of shot distribution etc. They're certainly capable. The Bucks looked great running to 7-0, but they got pretty well handled by your C's. Let's see how they do against Denver et al. 

[ADegenerate]

Another slow start.

 

😡

[ADegenerate]

TJ Leaf stinks.

 

-9.1 PER!!!!

[ADegenerate]

Big win. Shout out  to Turner. He played incredible. Loved the DC ice in the veins cele. 

[Hoosierhoopster]

Nice W  down to the wire for the P's over the C's

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

Victor with the absolute ONIONS three and then a steal to down the Celtics. Victor is everything. 

[KoB2011]

Hey @BGleas, Vic would like a word with you about not being better than everyone on the Celts. 

[ADegenerate]

Haha! **** it @BGleas

 

🙂

[IU Scott]

Great game and got home to see the last 3 quarters. Went to see my son at ISU for family day and spent a good day there but had to leave early because my son bought tickets to the Pacer game tonight for him and his girlfriend.  I guess now that he has a girlfriend now that I don't get asked to go to games with him any longer.  We were suppose to go to the ISU game today but at the last minute we decided to just spend time roaming the campus because it was the first time y daughter got up to see her brother at ISU.  sounded like we missed a great football games as well since ISU won in 3pt 51-48.

[ADegenerate]

Fun game. We didn’t play well at all but I’ll take it.

[IU Scott]

Funny that Boston hit 19 3's and still lost.  I like seeing good shooters but to me it is not  basketball I really enjoy when an NBA team shots around 50 3's.

[ADegenerate]

4 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

Funny that Boston hit 19 3's and still lost.  I like seeing good shooters but to me it is not  basketball I really enjoy when an NBA team shots around 50 3's.

Scott basketball evolves man. 

 

 

 

Mods slap the basketball historian title on him. 

[ADegenerate]

Breakout game by Tyreke tonight. Perfect outcome. 

[IU Scott]

3 minutes ago, ADegenerate said:

Scott basketball evolves man. 

 

 

 

Mods slap the basketball historian title on him. 

I know it changes but everyone acts like they just invented basketball a couple of years ago and any style of play that is different is some way is not the correct way to play.  Everyone says that shooting 2's is not efficient yet a team that hit 19 3's found a way to lose.

[BGleas]

1 hour ago, KoB2011 said:

Hey @BGleas, Vic would like a word with you about not being better than everyone on the Celts. 

Vic was great down the stretch, Kyrie hit 4 threes down the stretch too. Vic is an all-star he should make those plays, just as Kyrie did/should. Good win for the Pacers and was a really fun, entertaining game to watch. Both teams are clearly in the top 4 of the East and it should be fun to watch all year. This was 1 of 82. 

[KoB2011]

9 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Vic was great down the stretch, Kyrie hit 4 threes down the stretch too. Vic is an all-star he should make those plays, just as Kyrie did/should. Good win for the Pacers and was a really fun, entertaining game to watch. Both teams are clearly in the top 4 of the East and it should be fun to watch all year. This was 1 of 82. 

Kyrie is a great scorer, Vic is a great player. 

How does Kyrie help a team win if he isn't scoring?