Offseason Thread 7: A Tale Of Two Dragons

[carey]

Color has nothing to do with it.

Y'all know you're barking up the wrong tree, right?

[Walt_Uoob]

76ers over 15.5 wins seems easy.

Also, how bout this?

Bet 50,000 on Cavs to win the East at +105
Bet 50,000 on Bulls to win the East at +280

If the Cavs win, you win 2,500.
If the Bulls win, you win 90,000.
If the Wizards win, you move into the 12' trailer in your uncle-in-law's backyard.

Thats not quite right. The bookie does not keep the wager, the payout includes your wager plus your winnings.

A 50,000 bet at +105 pays out 102,500, of which 52,500 is profit. Bulls bet would payout 190,000, of which 140,000 is profit.

The Wizards bet is close, but I think it would be a double-wide trailer.

He's talking about placing both bets together. So if the Bulls win you get $190k payout but you put down a total of $100k ($50k on each of the two teams), so $90k of it is profit. If the Cavs win you get a payout of $102k on your $100k of bets, so you win $2,500.

[JTrain]

NBA 2K15 ratings:

Dragic 84
Bledsoe 81
Thomas 80
Plumlee 78
Keef 78
Green 78
PJ 76
Mook 75
Tolliver 73
TJ 72
Ennis 71
Archie 69
Len 67
Randolph 64

Overall, I like their ratings. Probably I would put #83 to Bledsoe and only #75 to Plumlee...but other than that I think the ratings are very fair.

I was surprised Archie was below Ennis.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I'm not going to re-post everything, but anyone else see Isaiah Thomas's quotes on azcentral today? Doesn't sound to me like someone who'll be happy playing third fiddle in the back court. Maybe if we're atop the west... but even then, he seems to want to be a main guy. And that may never happen, no matter how good he is, on this team. Curious to see whether its expectations or reality that shifts first.

[SSOL]

I'm not going to re-post everything, but anyone else see Isaiah Thomas's quotes on azcentral today? Doesn't sound to me like someone who'll be happy playing third fiddle in the back court. Maybe if we're atop the west... but even then, he seems to want to be a main guy. And that may never happen, no matter how good he is, on this team. Curious to see whether its expectations or reality that shifts first.

? He said he is fine coming off the bench as long as he is contributing to the team and the team is winning. Saying that he is going to compete to start is a good thing. He has been nothing but a standup teammate thus far.

[carey]

I'm not going to re-post everything, but anyone else see Isaiah Thomas's quotes on azcentral today? Doesn't sound to me like someone who'll be happy playing third fiddle in the back court. Maybe if we're atop the west... but even then, he seems to want to be a main guy. And that may never happen, no matter how good he is, on this team. Curious to see whether its expectations or reality that shifts first.

I'm not worried. He's a fiery little guy. I think if he's still playing 30 minutes a game and scoring the ball he'll be alright. I do worry a little bit about the defense when he'll be playing next to Bledsoe for long stretches. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but at least for 15 min a game he'll have to be out there with Eric. It's going to be interesting to see how they make it work.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I'm not going to re-post everything, but anyone else see Isaiah Thomas's quotes on azcentral today? Doesn't sound to me like someone who'll be happy playing third fiddle in the back court. Maybe if we're atop the west... but even then, he seems to want to be a main guy. And that may never happen, no matter how good he is, on this team. Curious to see whether its expectations or reality that shifts first.

? He said he is fine coming off the bench as long as he is contributing to the team and the team is winning. Saying that he is going to compete to start is a good thing. He has been nothing but a standup teammate thus far.

Specifically, he said he wants to be in at the end of games. This after saying he wants to start and that he expects a lot of minutes. Well, he won't start, he'll likely average closer to 25 than 30, and he almost certainly won't be finishing games. But we will win games. I'm just less confident he'll be happy with that after reading his quotes. It may be that he's just a fiery guy, but I'm not sure 6MOY is the type of ceiling he'll be happy with long-term.

But maybe that's okay.

[Nando88]

I'm so excited to see Alex this season. Dude is huge. If he's really improved on how to avoid stupid fouls and his mid range shot, I expect him replace Plum in the lineup. With his mean streak and his massive size, we can maybe finally bang with the big dogs in the west down low. Miles is best suited as a energy big off the bench a la Lou Amundson.


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[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I'm so excited to see Alex this season. Dude is huge. If he's really improved on how to avoid stupid fouls and his mid range shot, I expect him replace Plum in the lineup. With his mean streak and his massive size, we can maybe finally bang with the big dogs in the west down low. Miles is best suited as a energy big off the bench a la Lou Amundson.

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/top_p ... night.nba/

Alex's ability to block shots without fouling is pretty unique. It gives him the potential to be an elite at-the-rim defender of both bigs and smalls. I'm with you. I'm high on Alex.

Jumping the gun by about a year (because this question would have mattered so little last year), if Alex switches to the driver on the P&R, we've got to be able to use team defense to guard Alex's man. PJ, TJ, Mook and Chief should all be able to switch quickly due to their agility and BBIQ. The question is, with their lack of length, how well can our forwards help prevent the offensive rebound?

I think rebounding is going to be our achilles' heel this year. I think we have enough scoring talent to keep us in most games, but when the game's on the line, I'm going to worry about the offensive boards.

[SSOL]

I'm not going to re-post everything, but anyone else see Isaiah Thomas's quotes on azcentral today? Doesn't sound to me like someone who'll be happy playing third fiddle in the back court. Maybe if we're atop the west... but even then, he seems to want to be a main guy. And that may never happen, no matter how good he is, on this team. Curious to see whether its expectations or reality that shifts first.

? He said he is fine coming off the bench as long as he is contributing to the team and the team is winning. Saying that he is going to compete to start is a good thing. He has been nothing but a standup teammate thus far.

Specifically, he said he wants to be in at the end of games. This after saying he wants to start and that he expects a lot of minutes. Well, he won't start, he'll likely average closer to 25 than 30, and he almost certainly won't be finishing games. But we will win games. I'm just less confident he'll be happy with that after reading his quotes. It may be that he's just a fiery guy, but I'm not sure 6MOY is the type of ceiling he'll be happy with long-term.

But maybe that's okay.

I could very well see him finishing games.

[RunDogGun]

So Thomas says this : "I want to be a starter," Thomas said. "Who wouldn't? I'm going to push to be one but as long as I play, like Coach said I'm going to have a big role and play big minutes, I'm fine with that. As long as I'm in at the end of games when it really counts, that's all that matters."

And now there is a concern that he might not be happy here?

If Jeff says that IT will have a big role, he probably will.

So far I think IT has said everything I would want to hear from a guard coming into a situation having guys like Eric and Goran ahead of him.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I could very well see him finishing games.

You mean, running all 3 Point Guards to finish? Between timeouts, perhaps! But for minutes in the fourth?

Or do you mean Goran or Eric sits? It could be a competition every game.

So Thomas says this : "I want to be a starter," Thomas said. "Who wouldn't? I'm going to push to be one but as long as I play, like Coach said I'm going to have a big role and play big minutes, I'm fine with that. As long as I'm in at the end of games when it really counts, that's all that matters."

And now there is a concern that he might not be happy here?

Aw come on, chill. I'm not declaring a chemistry emergency here. I just think it's intriguing.

If Jeff says that IT will have a big role, he probably will.

So far I think IT has said everything I would want to hear from a guard coming into a situation having guys like Eric and Goran ahead of him.

I agree with the first part. With respect to the second, I don't think his statements are a problem necessarily. But you know what happens in NBA2K when you change a player's role from Starter to 6th Man.

[aIvin adams]

watched some of goran's presser from media day.

he was asked about positional battles going on so far at pre-camp.

Ooohh... PJ and TJ. Those two guys.. they were really going at it.

::makes 'clashing' signal with both hands::

Yknow, PJ, he is a great defender. And TJ is an amazing offensive player. PJ was defending him hard.

the immovable object against the unstoppable force.

how much would you guys pay to watch them play one on one for 15 minutes? i'd cough up the price of a beer and a hot dog, at least.

[carey]

Alex's ability to block shots without fouling is pretty unique.

Hmmm. He averaged 6.8 fouls per 36. That's actually a bit of a problem.

[bwgood77]

76ers over 15.5 wins seems easy.

Also, how bout this?

Bet 50,000 on Cavs to win the East at +105
Bet 50,000 on Bulls to win the East at +280

If the Cavs win, you win 2,500.
If the Bulls win, you win 90,000.
If the Wizards win, you move into the 12' trailer in your uncle-in-law's backyard.

Thats not quite right. The bookie does not keep the wager, the payout includes your wager plus your winnings.

A 50,000 bet at +105 pays out 102,500, of which 52,500 is profit. Bulls bet would payout 190,000, of which 140,000 is profit.

The Wizards bet is close, but I think it would be a double-wide trailer.

no you are wroñg. You would put down 50k and get 52.5k back, 5% profit. And the other 50k down, get 140k bàck. +200 would double your money. The extra 80 gives you another 80% of your 50k, or the other 40k to make 90k profit as he posted.

The 105 is your payout when you bet 100 at the Window. 52.5 is half. 280 is payout on 100 so half is 140 of which 90 is profit. First 50 is getting your money back.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Alex's ability to block shots without fouling is pretty unique.

Hmmm. He averaged 6.8 fouls per 36. That's actually a bit of a problem.

No, no, I'm not referring to fouls in general - just fouling while blocking. He's good at the "verticality" thing. Not as good as Gobert... this is all IIRC but the fouls came from hits and hands. He was pushing so much that he fell behind on plays and had to foul. The lack of strength was a huge issue last year. Resulted not only in fouls, but in Alex running out of breath because of having to leverage all his strength against bigger opponents. Whereas one hopes it isn't this year.

[Saberestar]

"But if I'm not playing, if I'm on that bench and not getting in, I'm going to be fussing a little bit," Thomas said. "I just want to do whatever it takes to win, whatever I can to help this team win ballgames and get to the next level, which is the playoffs."

I don’t like what Isaiah is saying about his minutes on the court. Horny and McD can envision him playing big minutes, but it is always up to the coach in game time.
I prefer players that want to make whatever the coach ask him and period.
Hopefully all will be good.

[JTrain]

[Nando88]

Isaiah knew what he was getting into signing with us a team that starts two point guards.


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[NTB]

You guys are just acting like every statement is problem for us.