FW_Hoosier

4 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

That is why you need to be able to have another source to score besides shooting 3's

You should give Brad Stevens a call and let him know, I’m sure that’s just never occurred to him!

2 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The NBA placed magnets in the balls. 

If the fix was really in for Golden State, I think the league just lost itself money.  Who cares about a fourth straight matchup between Cleveland and Golden State?  It’s honestly got boring to watch Lebron carry his absolutely pathetic teammates and the Warriors play KD-centric iso ball.  

Everyone will try to act like the Cavs have a chance if the series goes longer than 5 games, but we all already know what the outcome is going to be in the end.  Yawn.  Warriors-Celtics or Rockets-Cavs would have been much more entertaining series.

I was so pumped beforehand, but... Watching those back-to-back Game 7s actually sucked.  69 missed threes between the Celtics and the Rockets, when both were at home — yuck.  Pretty massive choke job by both teams.

Tatum is gonna be a special player.

50 minutes ago, rico said:

My Dad is soon to be 78 and an avid b-ball fan.  He loves these discussions when they come up.  The NBA spans his lifetime.  He would tell you that LeBron, without a doubt, is the greatest player he has ever seen.  Think about that for a while.  And fwiw, Dad is a Bulls fan.  King James is like Wilt but better.  He is a freak.  

Oh you don’t have to convince me how much of a freak Lebron is.  I bought into the “Lebron isn’t a winner” argument for a while, but that went out the window when he beat that Warriors team after being down 3-1.  Honestly though, what he’s been doing over the course of the playoffs this year might be even more impressive.  To be this dominant at the age of 33, with the amount of minutes he’s played in his career, is absolutely mind boggling.  As for Kobe, I don’t think he comes anywhere close to Lebron.

5 minutes ago, rico said:

Who is first?

1 minute ago, KoB2011 said:

I honestly don't see how he isn't first. 

I’m agnostic on the MJ/Lebron debate because I never really watched MJ play.  I think there are good arguments on both sides, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s those two, then everyone else.

11 hours ago, ADegenerate said:

Just a cool 25/5/5 for lebron at the half. Gee whiz. 

I don’t see how he’s any lower than the second best player of all time.  

22 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

The Celtics have been the most interesting team to me thus far in the playoffs.  I’ve watched most of their games, and they are just intriguing.  I watched them beat a dysfunctional and underachieving team in Milwaukee on what really turned out to be a toss-up.  It wasn’t surprising, though.  But, then, they took out Philly handily even though a lot of the games were tight.  So, at this point they are playing with house money.   I didn’t expect them to take out Cleveland but it’s playing out just like the Milwaukee series.  

If you follow these series, it shows how weak the East still is.  It might flip in the next couple of years as some of these young teams become coherent, but there’s some bad basketball in the East.  The Cavs sweeping a 60 win Raptor team is a joke.  Cleveland on the road looks pathetic.  Lebron is amazing, but he’s got rubbish around him.  Jeff Green is a dog of a player and always has been.  George Hill is a shell of himself and looks like he’s headed out of the league.  Clarkson plays weak.  JR Smith is a moron and a classic losing player if he weren’t around Lebron. I kind of like Nance.  Love is fine.  But, you take Lebron out and this a team vying for the first pick in the draft.  It’s got to be demoralizing for him to be around the clowns he’s got to play with.  He may will them to victory but there’s no evidence as a team they’d play tough on the road in game 7.

It’s funny, I was going to come in and mention the Celtics dilemma with playing time going forward but you guys already covered it.  I love Jaylen Brown and Tatum.  Rozier has been a revelation although his confidence and/or energy seems to be inconsistent.  But he’s a nice backup for an injury prone Irving.  Smart is a guy that, to me, you have to find minutes for.  He’s the opposite of JR Smith, since he plays winning basketball.  Ainge has done an amazing job in this day and age, but they will have to satisfy all of these guys. 

I don’t see any issues for the Celtics keeping all three of Tatum, Brown, and Hayward.  If anything, having those three players is exactly what you want in the NBA today.  Three guys that can all handle the ball and create their own shot, and can guard 1-4 switching everything on defense.  Then you add in a top 5 scorer in the league in Kyrie and a stud defensive center that can guard on the perimeter and does all the little things in Horford, and the Celtics have pretty much the ideal starting 5.

I also think they’re going to keep Rozier and let Smart go.  Rozier has been playing at a really high level, and will be maybe the best backup guard in the league when Kyrie comes back.  Smart is going to be up for a big contract this summer, and I just don’t think it’s worth it for the Celts to pay him.  He’s great defensively and makes hustle plays, but I think he can be a real bonehead at times, and hurts on them offense.  Rozier is better all around and is on a cheaper/longer contract than Smart.

11 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

EJ was big time tonight. Rockets played with great ball movement, much, much better game with less iso and great attacking play 

Warriors were the ones playing iso ball tonight.  KD is playing like he did in OKC, and Curry doesn’t look right.

I love that Chuck called sweep 2 days ago and is now saying the Rockets can beat the Warriors.  Way to cover all your bases Chuck.

13 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Yeah, and more than on  the surface.

He improved their record in 6 if the past 7 years,  took them to the number 1 seed in the East and won more games this season, I believe, than Toronto had ever won. 

And he just won COY. 

Then they fire him. 

Might’ve in part been due to benching DeRozan, but probably more just because they got embarrassed, again, by LeBron. 

Msybe the plan is like what GS did when they fired Mark J, who built that team into which Kerr just stepped, and then got all the glory. Still seems stupid to me, but time will tell 

Don’t think it was really a bad move to fire Casey.  I still don’t know why he won COTY, 59 wins in the weak East with an established all star backcourt and a lot of other talent really wasn’t that impressive.  I think D’Antoni, Stevens, Pop, Brown, Snyder, or even McMillan all deserved it more than him.  The Raptors have been a decent regular season team, but underachieved in the playoffs when it really matters for a number of years now.  Getting swept by that weak Cavs team when this supposed to be “their year” was unacceptable.  

On the other hand, I do think a lot of it falls on Lowry and especially DeRozan for being mentally weak and just rolling over for Lebron, but in the end the buck is going to stop with the coach.

2 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Honestly, why is the officiating so God awful this season?

i’m not A Raptors fan, but for any watching the game tonight, how can the refs actually review DeRozan’s block and give him a flagrant 2 on what was OBVIOUSLY a play for the ball coming from behind to try to prevent the bucket. There was zero basis for any finding of intent. Even the announcer was basically shocked after saying at worst it was a flagrant 1. What the heck is wrong with the officiating? It’s just horrible 

Probably just felt bad for DeRozan and wanted to put him out of his misery.  Merciful.

8 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

Manu and Parker are also HOFers. Pop is great but he has had great talent. 

I personally think he deserves a ton of credit for having that talent, though. 

You’re right, losing 47 games in his first season was a genius strategy to get Duncan 😂

But in all seriousness, I agree, he does deserve credit for getting those players.  He and the front office have put together the right staff to identify and develop players like Manu, Parker, and Kawhi.  Stevens will need to do the same thing to achieve the success Pop has had.

8 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Agree with everything up to Stevens is the best at either level. When he has won multiple titles then he may surpass Pop, but it is at best premature to say he’s better than Pop now. What Pop has done in San Antonio is next to none 

On the other hand, Pop has had two all-time greats in Robinson and Duncan his entire career, along with another potential Hall of Famer in the post-Duncan era in Leonard.  What Stevens has been able to achieve up to this point with far less talent has been arguably as impressive as what Pop achieved in his first five years in the league.  But agree that he needs to get a couple rings first — little doubt those will come eventually though.

53 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Agree and disagree. Yes, the college game is more ran by the coaches than the player, compared to the NBA, but I’d counter and say the college game goes a bit too far in that other direction. They treat the coaches like gods and I think they sometimes get too much credit  

Also, the NBA being run by the players depends on the organization. The Celtics most certainly are not run by the players. The Spurs are not run by the players. Phil Jackson was in complete control of the Bulls and Lakers sideline when he was in both spots. The good teams are managed by well run organizations, not individual playoers. 

Is OKC going to pretty much do whatever Westbrook wants to keep him, absolutely. But not all teams are like that. If Kyrie Irving went to the Celtics and said fire Stevens or trade me, Irving would be playing somewhere else. If Westbrook said fire Donovan or trade me, Donovan will be fired. Depends on the team. 

But the point of my post was that Stevens is the best coach at either level right now, and I don’t want him anywhere near another college program. 

And I don’t know why anyone would want Stevens to take a step backwards from the highest level of basketball in the world. Stevens has a chance to become an all-time great at the absolute pinnacle of his profession, he’s not going to pass that opportunity up.  Would be like wanting to see Archie coach a high school team.

Raptors never had a chance to beat Lebron in the playoffs.  Cavs in 5, 6 tops.

Cavs will smoke the Raptors.  Lowry was already pissing his pants at the sight of Lebron and Jose friggin Calderon last week, and the playoffs haven’t even started yet.

9 hours ago, Proud2BAHoosier said:

Watched a little of the G league finals tonight and I saw where Thomas Bryant in the game.

Let me say I was unimpressed, he looked totally lost....

I haven’t watched any games, but Bryant has done really well overall in the G League this season.  Averaging 20 points and 7 rebounds a game, and dropped 33 points and 5 rebounds to send the South Bay Lakers to the conference finals the other day.

https://2ways10days.com/thomas-bryant-named-2-ways-10-days-g-league-rookie-of-the-year-e478ae2090db

https://gleague.nba.com/games/20180403/SBLRNO/

13 hours ago, HoosierFaithful said:

Oladipo just has that "it" factor.  I've watched almost every game this year.  Clutch.  Ice in his veins.  

I can’t wait to watch him in the playoffs in a couple weeks.  Seems like he was slumping a little bit recently and has come out of it at the perfect time.  Gonna be a lot of fun.

Troy gets some guaranteed money.

https://apple.news/AHgOVFM0PRLyZHyYYv8uLqA

Great article on OG.  Sounds like he’s had a big impact on Toronto on the court and off of it.

52 minutes ago, FKIM01 said:

That uniform looks absolutely hilarious on him.

You mean his parasail?

Not the NBA, but Nick Zeisloft just went 12-15 (!!!) from three in a game in the Lithuanian Basketball League.  Judging from the title of this video, that was a team record.  Absolutely unbelievable shooter.

16 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

I don't know, Gilbert is an idiot, and he and LeBron have not been on good terms for a bit now, while the Cavs have largely failed to put a good team around LeBron, this year, while he took them and every other team he's played on for multiple years now to the Finals. And yes, he brought the Cavs their championship, which is as much as any Clevelander could ask for.  I'm not trying to come off like a big LeBron fan, but he's pretty deserving and Dan Gilbert is a nimrod. Just look at how this season started, the 'front office' moves he makes are moronic.

LeBron is basically the GM of that team.  He’s the one essentially forcing them to leverage their future by signing a bunch of aging vets to ridiculous contracts so they can “win now,” while giving them no assurances about what he’s doing beyond the current season.  If he had committed to the franchise beyond this season, they likely would have kept Kyrie.  I don’t really think a player is obligated to be loyal to a franchise, but like BGleas said, he’s pretty much held the Cavs hostage.  He has no one to blame but himself for how that roster is currently constructed.