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No Luka.   Get's hurt in the 2nd minute of the Heat game Saturday.  Out 2 weeks.  The team was in shock and got down by over 20 in the 1st half.  2nd half came back and took the lead in the game before losing late.  Then Mavs beat the hottest team in the league in their house without Luka to stop their 18 game streak.  Who would of thought.  They have a week against many of the beasts in the East.  Celtics, Sixers, Raptors yet to go this week.  Most likely losses but RC has this entire team playing well together.  So who knows. Let's go Mavs.

Carlisle is the best babysitter in the league.  He has made baby Luka who cannot legally buy alcohol an MVP candidate. Let's Go Mavs!

Other players in the same situation as Sabonis are Buddy Hield and Jaylen Brown.   If I were the Pacers, I'd try to move Sabonis to the Celtics for Brown.  I've always liked Leaf's skill set on the offensive side.    I know his defense will never be much but if the Pacers have 4 defenders such as Brogdon, VO, Brown and Turner starting, is defense an issue if he were the PF.  Warren and Lamb could be a dynamic scoring duo off the bench.

On 8/31/2019 at 6:25 AM, Seeking6 said:

Eric Gordon got another $76 Million last night. No clue on career earnings but he has to be IU's all time earner so far, right? I'm sure Victor will surpass at some point....if he hasn't already. Kudos to Gordon. 

That's easy money.  He gets to stand on the 3 point line and be a spectator while those other 2 guys take all the shots. Maybe he will get to be the guy that has the WTH look in his eyes when Russ goes 1-10 in the 4th Q.

If D. Cousins is back to the 25 and 12 player he was  before his achilles injury, might he be the most impactful player of the group.  You kind of know what to expect from main 4. Was last year the new norm or Boogie or an anomaly in regards to him coming back from injury and just filling a role on a team of super stars?

I really don't see Romeo getting much in the way of minutes with Brown, Hayward and Tatum on he roster plus Smart will play a lot at SG with Kemba on the team.  I feel at some point the Celtics likely trade Hayward to strengthen other positions and balance the roster.   I think relying on rookies Williams, Romeo and Edwards makes for a weak bench for a team that has such high expectations. They may also have to rely on their 2nd year big Robert Williams which just adds to an inexperienced bench and he is kind of knucklehead.   Of course injuries change things up a lot but I expect Romeo gets a development year for the most part.   Murray, White and Walker all spent their rookie year primarily on Austin for the Spurs and look to be quite a trio heading into this season.   . After watching Kanter in the playoffs for Portland, I wouldn't call him soft.  He may not be the best defender but he is pretty solid offensively.  I think he rebounds well.  At least his stats show he does. His PER has typically been in the 20's which really solid.   

I guess it depends on how Simmons is rated if he is considered overrated. IMO, he is an All Star player.  At least he doesn't jack up 3's he cannot make and his PER has been pretty good at 20 in each of first 2 years.   He is a solid defender.  Whether he gives effort on that side of the ball all the time, I don't know since I don't follow all their games.  IMO, playing him at PG is not the best idea.. Just let him run the show from the forward spots.  I also think he needs to fix his FT % before worrying about the 3. I think on one of the summer league telecasts, they were discussing how the 3 point line should be moved back being something that might likely pick up steam in the next couple of years.  Improving his mid range game and drawing fouls to get to the line would make him much more a weapon offensively if he shot 80% not 60% from the line.   Simmons has played 80 regular season games and 10 playoff games each of the last 2 seasons.  I would not play him in the summer league risking injury.  He can work on strength, conditioning and shooting with out playing summer league games. 

I really like Denver.  The playoff experience they received this year will be invaluable moving forward. Their young players will only get better. 

I'd like to thank the powers to be who put Westbrook and Harden on the same team.  Now I only have despise one team in the league. LOL. I think OKC may be better than many think. Adams, Gallo and CP3 with SGA is a pretty good core.   I thought the Grant trade was strange. He seemed like such a good fit with those other 4 as starters.   

The NBA is not to watered down and there is plenty of money to go around for 30 teams and there is growth potential in getting the G-League ramped up to be a solid minor/development league.  

With Lowery aging, i don't think it was that huge of a gamble for the Raptors to trade for Kawhi.  Gasol too.  they were not going to get it done with the lowery/Derozan pair. I really like toronto and GS for that matter. Green is annoying but he is all about winning.  While they will likely come back to earth dynasty wise, they will still be competing for titles.  I almost expect next year may be a year off and tank to rebuild some while KD/Klay rehab if they keep the cast together. 

That's a really tough decision.  Just the decision to keep vs lose KD while maxing Klay was like 200-300 mil in salary per yr over the next 4 when you factor in  luxury taxes.  How can GS even justify that but windhorst claims they offer both 5 year max deals.  Guess the new arena is pay off for them.  

Warriors With Durant

Warriors Without Durant

1 hour ago, IU Scott said:

One thing is that the games start at 9pm on a work night and it is hard for a lot of people to stay up and watch the whole game.  There also could be a lot of fans like me that is not totally invested in the NBA and after their teams are eliminated doesn't watch all of the game.

Meh.  I'd rather watch a game that starts at 9 than have to try to rush home for a 5 or 6 PM start. I realize most of the population is in the East time zone but still I don't think this argument holds much water.  I always DVR games with early starts. Actually,  I rarely watch anything live anymore.  Not even Sports.  I'll wait 30-45 minutes to start watching a game and FFWD through commercials. Don't know for sure but TV ratings seem to be based on whose watching live TV.   

4 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Rockets had GS last year. With CPIII, up 3-2, they would've won it. He was a difference maker last season. The Rockets missed their window, at least with CPIII, imo. 

Actually GS was rolling along 2-1 after winning game 2 @ Houston by 20 then Game 3 at home by 40. They also then lost a Finals MVP in Iggy for the series.  They also lost Klay for a half in Game 4. If the Rox get Paul for games 6 and 7 then let GS have Iggy and I think there would be no games 6 and 7 necessary.   

Well the Rox had Chris Paul this time. The result is evident from the photo below.

There is no doubt RW is quite the talent and plays hard.  I could care less if wants to play hero ball with his high volume shooting.  There are plenty of players such as that in the league.   I always like Iverson. Rodman too.  He was always getting into others heads.   

I find it hard to like Westbrook because everything seems to be about him.  He seems to have these side agendas against other teams that he has going internally because he channels his energy negatively into what appears to be taunts.  How does this impact his teammates positively. The only player's head he seems to get into is his own.    Can you imagine if snarled at or did one of his muscle flexes vs the Bad Boy pistons. 

Joel Embiid is like the anti-Westbrook.  How can anybody not like that guy.  Great player.  Great interviews.  Celebrates with the fans. And I'm rooting for Toronto to win this series. 

Maybe the refs should let a player guard Harden or call offensive fouls when he uses his off arm yet all he wants a fair chance.    Maybe a couple of those run out fouls could have been called. I suspect a couple of the fouls against Iggy and some early fouls caused Curry to sit were phantom fouls.  

Pretty tired of the Wah Wah rox.   It is always something.  Don't remember the Clips whining about about much in their series with the Warriors. Who was that guy on the Warriors who played 34 minutes of awesome D and shot 6-7 with 14 points.  Last year it was CP3 getting hurt costing them but losing Iggy didn't hurt the Warriors at in their narrow game 4 and 5 losses.    Smiley D'anwhiney was always crying about something back in those Suns series with Spurs and Mavs. He is still no different. 

On 4/24/2019 at 9:33 AM, Hoosierhoopster said:

Really is an interesting dilema for OKC. Westbrook is their heart and soul. He's also the reason they lost to Portland -- who they swept in the regular season while Lillard said PG should be the MVP of the League (respect). The weird thing is that Westbrook was doing a much better job earlier in the season of facilitating, a large part of why PG was in the MVP discussion. Then he goes back to the stupid jack up shots at something like sub-30 percentage. He's shooting worse than he ever has, and he does this? Just stupid.

The problem is the regular season and playoffs are just played at different levels.  Sweeping Portland in the regualar season means little.  I don't think you are giving Portland enough credit.  That team is really good and there is reason they made it to the 3rd seed.   Their roster is mostly now into their prime years and really came together as the season progressed. They added Kanter as a missing piece and he provided valuable insurance with the loss of Nurkic. Collins has a couple of years under his belt now and provides good minutes off the bench.  He will only get better.   The stars are just aligning up for them, IMO.  To me once you get past Russ, Adams and PG vs Lillard and McCollum,  the portland roster is deeper, more balanced and a lot better.   

Russ needs someone like CP3 does with the Beard to keep him focused. When Harden is about to let refs or other happenings on the court get n head, CP3 immediately says something to him.  Then Harden goes back to basketball. 

I discussed my dislike for Russ earlier in the season.  I watched that OKC game. I feel so bad for PG but he only has to blame himself for signing an extension to stay with russ. Russ got his triple double, a solid muscle flex in during their 27-6 run to take over the game, an I'm bad snarl, and his 31 shots where he made 11.  As usual in the last 3 minutes of the game he shot the other team back into position to win and the real superstar PG slammed the door.  It was only fitting that the closest OKC player to see that Lillard buzzer beater go in was Russ.   OKC should move on from Westbrook and dump him. Maybe they should trade him for Wall since their contracts match. Maybe the Pistons have concerns about Griffin's knee. Lillard even made reference to the fact that portland talked no trash for 3 games but OKC did after 1 win.  Loved the Lillard bye bye waive. 

The difference in the Pacers/Celtics was the Celtics just have to much firepower and depth. Without Vic the pacers had nobody to takeover in the 4th quarters. I do not think there is anything that McMillan could of done.  It was a good learning experience for Sabonis and Turner and the young Pacers. Hope they are successful in landing a significant Free agent or find a trade to land one with their cap space. 

I recently added the roku Ultra for my 4K TV. I did look at the Google and Amazon devices.   I do have the original Chromecast device but it is connected to A/V receiver HDMI port and I only use it now to stream my music library which I loaded into the google cloud from over 200 CD's or to stream spotify.  Does anyone use the Fire Stick or Chromecast Ultra.  Are they better or the same to Roku.

I have DirectV but the video quality for non-sports shows is much better via Roku.   I watch even network TV shows on the Roku via Fox, ABC channels.  Unfortunately can't FFWD thru commercials.  Every now and then the Sports will stream better on Roku ultra but I usually stick to Directv for sports.  MLB package works great though.  I probably need to increase internet speed but service provider at my house will only hit 50 MBPS. 

20 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

4-2 Celtics but with Marcus Smart out it will hurt there defense.  The last game we played against the Celtics he guarded Bojon and got in his head and held him to like 6 points.

You right that it hurts their defense but it probably means more minutes for Rozier and Brown.  They can replace his defense.  I think losing Smart hurts their energy and toughness.  He really elevates the players around him to play with the same grit or at least it did last year.   

Thanks Dirk.  Made the trek to San antonio fighting the Austin rush hour traffic to get there to see his final game.  He just never disappoints. He put up a double double in his last game. One Third of the crowd were Mavs fans wearing a dirk jerseys and we all went crazy everytime he touched the ball and cheered louder when scored.   Spurs fans cheered him.  As a guy who grew up in E-ville in the 70's, the Reds, IU basketball, Bird, the Griese led Dolphins, and Donnie baseball are tops in my sports world fandom. 

I jumped on the Mavs bandwagon in their first year of existence which coincided with my relocation to Texas.    Troy and Pudge probably belong also but Dirk has firmly carved his spot on that list and easily passed them.  He is the Mavs.   Hopefully, Luka will be  join him.    So glad Luka and even KP who didn't get to play with him got to be around Dirk in his final season and get to see what it is like to be loyal to one team. Rick Carlisle said he is fortunate in an era where players jump from team to team to have 2 players that have played so long for one team.  Those 2 being Reggie and dirk. 

No time for Magic tonight on 41.21.1 night. 5 hours in and still cannot Dirk's final home game and ceremony off.  Barkley, Pippen, Bird, Kemp and Detlef were the idols he discussed in his post game ceremony.   Cuban brought all Dirk's idols in and Dirk had no idea they would be there.  Best retirement ceremony ever.  Dirk's good buddy Brian Cardinal was there.  

I am happy that Rose seems to have revived his career and found a new niche.  He has become a very good long range shooter and has his explosion back.  Hopefully he will have no serious setbacks and his ankle is short term injury..  I am not going to say Rose deserves to win the all star voting but does it really matter.   He is having a really nice season that is borderline deserving if not of an All -Star selection.  I'm sure the ones who truly deserve to go will get chosen by the coaches if not voted in. By the time the game rolls around several players will drop due to injury.   

I don't think Wade or VC should go though.  Fans who have appreciated their career can show that appreciation in road games.  Dirk has been getting an amazing reception in road games.  These players wiil all get their lifetime achievement recognition when they are inducted to the HOF. 

Typical Russell Westbrook. LOL.  He has mean looking snarls at least.  He got to use those snarls 3 times. 

Meanwhile,  Luka gets out the Magic wand again.  This guy just continues to roll out the special stuff and is all smiles.  

2 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

The Mavs have a bright future, with the next Dirk. 

Still fairly early in the season, a little past the 1/4 mark, so too early to make solid predictions imo -- but, I don't see LeBron's Lakers as a contender or better than OKC, Nuggets and maybe a couple other teams. LeBron is such an amazing freak of nature he may still be good enough to carry that team towards a WC finals, but I don't think so. Thunder are legit, Nuggets are legit, both are deeper. Nuggets are not battle-tested deep in the playoffs, and they have tended to be up and down, so I'd put Thunder above them. Keep in mind that Roberson, if he gets back and healthy, would make a big time difference. Thunder are already a top defensive team, add him and they're a beast. Warriors are the Warriors, but they're no longer unbeatable. Hell the Rockets had them, until CPIII's injury. They would not have won but for that injury, and now with all the drama around Durant and nad-kicker Draymond, they're vulnerable. I can them losing in the WC Finals. Then again, they're still the Warriors. Should be a fun season.

I hate injuries.  What about andre Iguodala and his injury?  

I expect your not a Rox fan but It is typical of their fans to ignore how the Warriors settled into cruise mode against them before Iggy disappeared with his injury. Warriors won Game 1 at Houston then blew them out by 40 at home in Game 3 to go up 2 games to 1.  GS took game 2 off after getting Home Court back and feeling in control.  To me they are their own worst enemy.  It followed a pattern of their playoff series in round 1 and 2 when they played a dud game after establishing control of the series.  After Game 3  Iggy missed games and the rox barely won the next 2 games.   Even in Game 4 the Warriors had Thompson hurt his knee and  he spent the half the rest of the game getting back his rythm once he did return.  It clearly impacted the outcome of that game.  IMO, Warriors finish them off in 5 with Iggy in Games 4 and 5. His importance to them can get overlooked at times.  

19 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Damn I didn't realize Russ is back to shooting more 3's, hopefully that's an aberation, as he had been reducing those shots. Russ is really an enigma, how a guy who can average a triple double does not help players around him (often true) is a difficult thing to grasp. The Thunder are playing some great ball though right now, and they were a game away from the Finals before choking, and Durant ran to the team that beat him (no respect for KD at all). If they get Roberson back, healthy and in time for the playoffs, I think they contend this season for the title. If they don't, they probably won't, but as of right now, they look to be the second or third best team in the West.

I also must confess that as a Mavs fan that OKC and the Rox are the 2 teams I really don't like so there is probably some slant in my posts about those 2 teams.   I think OKC likely finishes with top 4 seed in the standings but are miles behind a full strength Warriors team and probably wind up a ways behind Lebron and the Lakers who are not  done tweaking around Lebron.  Adding chandler as a role player and leader was great for them and now they going for Ariza.    IMO, the Pels, Nugs and OKC are all about the same and  it is easy to add 4 or 5 more teams to that group.   Health matters a lot and if all at full strength, i like the Davis and the Pels but they seem the most fragile. 

 I think in the end PG was ready to move on something different. Fortunately for the Pacers the trade worked out great.  I'm surprised PG stayed in OkC.

Westbrook doesn't make any players around him better like other big stars. Not even sure he tries unless it helps himself look better.  Then he snarls like he is something special. He likely stunted VO's development. VO was not as established yet so took a backseat to Russ.   Once given that opportunity in Indy VO really shined.  Obviously PG benefits from playing a year with Russ so the comfort level is better.  PG was also probably respected more as a replacement for KD.  Now, OKC had to rely on PG with Ruiss taking time to recover form injury and get into mid season form.  Now that russ has returned to mid season form and is Mr. Inefficient High Volume guy, I'm interested to see how long they stay cohesive.  Westbrook 3 point .pct has dropped from 29 to 21 percent and he is taking 5 threes per game to 4 last year.   He wore on Durant. How long before he PG gets tired of him. We probably won't know until Russ melts down in the playoffs but I predict it comes at some point.