NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 2

[FAH1223]

Wish we had a GM with enough foresight to clear cap room for 2016 so we can bring KD back home.

[Kanyewest]

Wish we had a GM with enough foresight to clear cap room for 2016 so we can bring KD back home.

I'm finding it hard to envision the scenario where Durant leaves OKC in his prime. I don't see him doing a LeBron especially since Presti is a good gm who has found value in the draft even in the mid to late first round.

[Nivek]

As much as I love KD's game, I'm not ready to say he's surpassed Lebron as the best player in the game. Durant is certainly the best scorer in the game--hands down. But I still give Lebron the edge because he's a better all-around player, particularly on the defensive end. And, while it does look like Lebron may have taken a step back this season, I'm not sure the guy is just not tired of having to carry the Heat most nights...and may be coasting a little to save himself for the playoffs and "money time."

KD has been killing it lately though. But I worry that he's almost having to do too much because of the absence of Westbrook and it's going to catch up with him mentally and physically at some point. That would be my concern if I'm OKC.

BTW, I've seen reports suggesting that Lebron saying he was "jealous" of KD were tongue in check and shouldn't be taken seriously.

I think Lebron used to be the top defensive player in the NBA, but the on/off stats are stunning in the other direction this season. Miami has given up 8.7 more points per 100 possessions when Lebron's been on the court. That's opposed to 3.6 the other way for last season. Now, has he just been saving up his energy for when it counts? I don't know, but it's hard to make the case for him being a great defender when he's got such a poor +/- and buddies Wade and Bosh are both on the other side of the +/-.

It definitely speaks to how good Lebron has been that this is a down year for him. He's still one of the 3-4 top players in the league, and is still a legit MVP candidate -- even with his defensive decline. He's having a great season, but it's not one of the otherworldly seasons he's had in the past few years. And, it's not quite as good as an improved Durant. At least not so far.

[Ruzious]

Speaking of otherworldly, Caron Butler is having his Jeff F Green night against the Pistons tonight in another barn-burner for another cellar dweller.
Edit - Butler just committed a clear path 2 shot foul to let Detroit get the lead.

[stevemcqueen1]

Wish we had a GM with enough foresight to clear cap room for 2016 so we can bring KD back home.

Players of KD's stature don't change teams unless their situation goes all to Hell. Don't see that happening in OKC. Once Westbrook gets healthy again, that team is going to be a title contender every year for a while.

[Hypnotizer]

MIA with 25 pts lead over SAS in the middle of the 4th q, ouch.

[Youheardme90]

Miami is in cruise control, as they should be. 3 consecutive years in the finals will slow anybody down at some point. The spurs are 32-1 against the weaker opponents in the NBA, but have a losing record against the good teams. The Heat are good against the good teams and relatively weaker against the sub 500 teams.

[FAH1223]

Miami is in cruise control, as they should be. 3 consecutive years in the finals will slow anybody down at some point. The spurs are 32-1 against the weaker opponents in the NBA, but have a losing record against the good teams. The Heat are good against the good teams and relatively weaker against the sub 500 teams.

San Antonio is a combined 1-10 vs. Thunder, Heat, Blazers, Rockets, Pacers, Clippers.

Against teams above .500, they are 15-10.

All but four of Spurs' losses this season have come either short-handed, on a back-to-back, or both.

It'll be interesting to see how they play with everyone back and close to the playoffs. Their defense is not the same without Leonard, Green, and Splitter especially. Remember, the Spurs were .500 in their last 20 games last year and were then 30 seconds away from winning it all a couple months later. To put it even more in perspective, the Spurs were on a 20 game winning streak in 2012 until OKC backdoor swept them in the Western Conference Finals.

Both the Heat and the Spurs are in cruise control IMO. Poppovich is very non chalant at this time of the year.

If you go to Spurstalk, the Spurs fans are on suicide watch and extremely critical of their team. It's quite hilarious.

[Youheardme90]

Miami is in cruise control, as they should be. 3 consecutive years in the finals will slow anybody down at some point. The spurs are 32-1 against the weaker opponents in the NBA, but have a losing record against the good teams. The Heat are good against the good teams and relatively weaker against the sub 500 teams.

San Antonio is a combined 1-10 vs. Thunder, Heat, Blazers, Rockets, Pacers, Clippers.

Against teams above .500, they are 15-10.

All but four of Spurs' losses this season have come either short-handed, on a back-to-back, or both.

It'll be interesting to see how they play with everyone back and close to the playoffs. Their defense is not the same without Leonard, Green, and Splitter especially. Remember, the Spurs were .500 in their last 20 games last year and were then 30 seconds away from winning it all a couple months later. To put it even more in perspective, the Spurs were on a 20 game winning streak in 2012 until OKC backdoor swept them in the Western Conference Finals.

Both the Heat and the Spurs are in cruise control IMO. Poppovich is very non chalant at this time of the year.

If you go to Spurstalk, the Spurs fans are on suicide watch and extremely critical of their team. It's quite hilarious.

Popovich, who I often compare to Belichick, is the greatest coach in his respective sport. He has total control of his team,takes players and builds the system around their strengths.

As to them being in cruise control, it would make sense. How many years did the Spurs burn out by the second round of the playoffs, after winning 55, 60 games in a season. Now they stretch the season out and know if they are healthy going into the playoffs, they will have a chance to win every year.

[Ruzious]

I figured that when Cleve acquired Deng, it would be the end of them inventing new ways to lose, but they proved me wrong yesterday. They were up 61-42 at halftime against Phoenix and then proceeded to score 6 points in the 3rd quarter and lose convincingly. Markeiff (sp?) Morris is starting to look like an impressive PF for the Suns. The Suns are coming across as the up and coming organization - being innovative and doing a lot of things right.

[deneem4]

The defense Perry Jones is playing on lebron....we need him

[FAH1223]

Thunder were down by 20 in the first.... wow

Brooks has finally learned what he didnt vs the Heat in the Finals, park Perkins ass on the bench.

[hands11]

Wow. Suns beat Indy again.

Another player we could have had intead of Ves that year.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

We could have easily walked from that draft with Markieff Morris or Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris. That's ignoring Kemba Walker and Kawhi Leonard with the first pick. We needed a big. Markieff Morris or Nikola Vucevic would have made more sense for what they needed with the first pick. SF would have been what I went after 2nd so Tobias Harris would have made sense. We could have something like

Wall/Wolters
Beal/Barbosa
TA/Webster/T Harris
Nene/Markieff, Booker, Ryan Kelly
Gortat/Kevin

or

Wall/Wolter
Beal/Barbosa
TA/Webster/T Harris
Nene/Booker, Ryan Kellly
Vucevic/Kevin

Who knows how good we would have been so not sure what slot we would have in that last draft but we would have been wide open to draft whoever we most needed. Maybe we got CJM or Adams

And here come NY. About to bump Charlotte out of the 8th slot.

[dckingsfan]

I figured that when Cleve acquired Deng, it would be the end of them inventing new ways to lose, but they proved me wrong yesterday. They were up 61-42 at halftime against Phoenix and then proceeded to score 6 points in the 3rd quarter and lose convincingly. Markeiff (sp?) Morris is starting to look like an impressive PF for the Suns. The Suns are coming across as the up and coming organization - being innovative and doing a lot of things right.

I think you are right on both points... Cleveland has some bad locker room problems - some of which are caused by Irving or Irving/Brown.

And Phoenix is in really good shape moving forward - especially if they can keep Eric Bledsoe.

[pancakes3]

I can definitely see Kyrie having his own DECISION (tm) after next season.

[Hypnotizer]

Wow. Suns beat Indy again.

Another player we could have had intead of Ves that year.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

We could have easily walked from that draft with Markieff Morris or Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris. That's ignoring Kemba Walker and Kawhi Leonard with the first pick. We needed a big. Markieff Morris or Nikola Vucevic would have made more sense for what they needed with the first pick. SF would have been what I went after 2nd so Tobias Harris would have made sense. We could have something like

Wall/Wolters
Beal/Barbosa
TA/Webster/T Harris
Nene/Markieff, Booker, Ryan Kelly
Gortat/Kevin

Do you really think Morris twins don't want to play together?

[hands11]

Wow. Suns beat Indy again.

Another player we could have had intead of Ves that year.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

We could have easily walked from that draft with Markieff Morris or Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris. That's ignoring Kemba Walker and Kawhi Leonard with the first pick. We needed a big. Markieff Morris or Nikola Vucevic would have made more sense for what they needed with the first pick. SF would have been what I went after 2nd so Tobias Harris would have made sense. We could have something like

Wall/Wolters
Beal/Barbosa
TA/Webster/T Harris
Nene/Markieff, Booker, Ryan Kelly
Gortat/Kevin

Do you really think Morris twins don't want to play together?

Sure they do. Just saying we could have drafted him easy in 2011 since we were looking at PFs. He was the one I felt fit better with up between the two. He went 13th. Vucevic went 16th. Tobias went 19th.

We drafted 6th and 18th. We could have gotten Tobias and one of the other two easy. Those were two draft combos I liked at the time and we could have maybe even traded back from 6th and picked up another pick and done it.

I liked Kemba also, but I felt we had bigger needs then drafting PGs first in back to back drafts. Didn't like Jimmer, not that we would have done that. Wasn't big on Klay but he turned out good. Again, felt PF was more important for us with the first pick. I would have been more then ok had we went with Markieff with the first pick. If not, Vucevic.

Just pointing out what we could have very reasonably have had without talking about how some FA might have signed here with open cap space.

[Ruzious]

A draft geek's dream matchup: Nick Calathes started against Nate Wolters tonight, and they're both 4 of 7 shooting so far - early in the 3rd quarter.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

A draft geek's dream matchup: Nick Calathes started against Nate Wolters tonight, and they're both 4 of 7 shooting so far - early in the 3rd quarter.

Calathes is a guy doclinkin wanted the Wizards to draft. I see Coach Dave Joerger is starting to make Grizzly fans believe they can win. I was all for Joerger as Wizards coach.

Wolters is going to be a good player for a long time.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[hands11]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400489628

Utah beats Miami and Miami has all 3 of LJ, Wade and Bosh playing

Miami came back.

Trey Burke iced it with a 3