NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 2

[JWizmentality]

All our rivals win. The 3, 4, 5, 6 spots in the East is going to be a heck of a race.

[FAH1223]

The Pacers are frauds. If CHI stays healthy I think they can beat them.

[JWizmentality]

Wow, Atlanta continues to nosedive. At this point, a horrendously bad team is going to make the playoffs. I'm going to Lulz if it's the Knicks.

[closg00]

How can Nick Calathes be a rookie of the week?

[Nivek]

Al jefferson has been on a rampage...what's his #s since the break?

867-5309.

[Rafael122]

Wow, Atlanta continues to nosedive. At this point, a horrendously bad team is going to make the playoffs. I'm going to Lulz if it's the Knicks.

Cleveland and Detroit, as bad as they are, are only 3 games back from the 8th spot. But we all kinda figured the Hawks would struggle right? IIRC, they were playing at a .500 pace after Horford got hurt then they started struggling.

[Kanyewest]

Wow, Atlanta continues to nosedive. At this point, a horrendously bad team is going to make the playoffs. I'm going to Lulz if it's the Knicks.

Cleveland and Detroit, as bad as they are, are only 3 games back from the 8th spot. But we all kinda figured the Hawks would struggle right? IIRC, they were playing at a .500 pace after Horford got hurt then they started struggling.

Plus now Milsapp and Antic are injured.

[FAH1223]

For all of LeBron's greatness...it is still pretty sad to see that when he cannot just physically dominate a matchup, he goes into a shell and just settles for jumpshots.

He can't just run over Leonard cause Leonard is a lot stronger than he looks and his arms are long as hell...so Bron just settles for jumpers

He can't just run over Diaw cause Diaw is just too damn fat/big...so Bron just settles for jumpers...this is hilarious Diaw moves his feet very well and is quicker than he looks due to him being a SG/SF before but man...

This Spurs-Heat matchup looked just like the Finals with both teams healthy. Green, Leonard, Splitter are huge for that defense and Patty Mills is ballin.

The Spurs were my pre-season pick to win it all and it'll tough out West but if they keep playing like this after a signature W, then they just might get that one last run once more...

[FAH1223]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/441785324298338304[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/441786862412525568[/tweet]

[hands11]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/i ... eff-morris

markieff morris quietly putting together a solid year 3.

Nice jump in number from year 2 and month to mouth he is getting more consistent.

Another summer of expanding his game and he should be looking like he is over the hump.

13th pick in the 2011 draft.

[FAH1223]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

markieff morris quietly putting together a solid year 3.

Nice jump in number from year 2 and month to mouth he is getting more consistent.

Another summer of expanding his game and he should be looking like he is over the hump.

13th pick in the 2011 draft.

How about Gerald Green

[TGW]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

markieff morris quietly putting together a solid year 3.

Nice jump in number from year 2 and month to mouth he is getting more consistent.

Another summer of expanding his game and he should be looking like he is over the hump.

13th pick in the 2011 draft.

So Is Marcus, who was the guy I wanted in that draft as a trade down option. I remember the workout he had with Chris Singleton in Cleveland, where reports were coming out that he dominated Singleton.

Would have been awesome if we had both.

[FAH1223]

So Is Marcus, who was the guy I wanted in that draft as a trade down option. I remember the workout he had with Chris Singleton in Cleveland, where reports were coming out that he dominated Singleton.

Would have been awesome if we had both.

I'd rather have this kid and one of them

[TGW]

Leonard is good, but I think people overhype him without taking into consideration the team he plays for. That Spurs system makes mediocre players look good. Look at Gary Neal for instance—solid with the Spurs, and terrible with the Bucks/Bobcats. I'm really curious to see how much of his offense is assisted because I see a lot of his offense coming off swing passes or penetration.

That Spurs system is gold.

[hands11]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

markieff morris quietly putting together a solid year 3.

Nice jump in number from year 2 and month to mouth he is getting more consistent.

Another summer of expanding his game and he should be looking like he is over the hump.

13th pick in the 2011 draft.

So Is Marcus, who was the guy I wanted in that draft as a trade down option. I remember the workout he had with Chris Singleton in Cleveland, where reports were coming out that he dominated Singleton.

Would have been awesome if we had both.

For the Wizards that year, I preferred Markieff as an option in a trade down over Marcus. Markieff was the PF.

But yeah, both are coming along. It is cool they get to play together. Both should continue to improve.

That draft class is looking solid and deep as I felt it was at the time. And with some real nice 2nd rounders in Chandler Parsons, Isaiah Thomas to go with all those first round names.. Kryie, Klay, Kemba Walker, etc etc. It was a good class.

[mohammed10]

Leonard is good, but I think people overhype him without taking into consideration the team he plays for. That Spurs system makes mediocre players look good. Look at Gary Neal for instance—solid with the Spurs, and terrible with the Bucks/Bobcats. I'm really curious to see how much of his offense is assisted because I see a lot of his offense coming off swing passes or penetration.

That Spurs system is gold.

TGW- I do think some of the hype is justified for Leonard. He was a long 3 coming out of college, with good athletic ability but a questionable mid-range jumper and half court game. He was projected to be a 1st round pick and, to most, has lived up to that 'hype' fitting in his role with SA quite well. He is an above average 3 who has been allowed to grow into his role as a 3rd or 4th option.

Neal was an undrafted player coming out of Towson (IIRC) with a penchant for being a scoring 1/2. His handles were a bit questionable and got lumped into the 'tweener' category. He polished his handles in Euroleague and came home a better player. His jumper was never in question and that showed in his limited time off the bench and a few starts with the Spurs.

Not sure if the Spurs system is gold or not, but it works for them.

[Benjammin]

Poor LBJ went 6-18 against the Spurs and he complained about the "sleeved" jerseys. It was funny, though, when he also said, "I don't have a lot of margin of error with my jumper as it is."

[closg00]

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6461/markieff-morris

markieff morris quietly putting together a solid year 3.

Nice jump in number from year 2 and month to mouth he is getting more consistent.

Another summer of expanding his game and he should be looking like he is over the hump.

13th pick in the 2011 draft.

So Is Marcus, who was the guy I wanted in that draft as a trade down option. I remember the workout he had with Chris Singleton in Cleveland, where reports were coming out that he dominated Singleton.

Would have been awesome if we had both.

Yep, Markieff is looking solid, IIRC, peeps were surprised where he was taken.

What a tragedy for the Wizards though that 2011 draft, most of these 1st round guys would still be on the Wizards now instead of traded-away like Ves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NBA_draft

[pancakes3]

Hahaha. Just look at the first 20 picks. EVERY SINGLE ONE of the players there are getting minutes with 2 notable exceptions: Ves and Singleton.

[verbal8]

Leonard is good, but I think people overhype him without taking into consideration the team he plays for. That Spurs system makes mediocre players look good. Look at Gary Neal for instance—solid with the Spurs, and terrible with the Bucks/Bobcats. I'm really curious to see how much of his offense is assisted because I see a lot of his offense coming off swing passes or penetration.

That Spurs system is gold.

TGW- I do think some of the hype is justified for Leonard. He was a long 3 coming out of college, with good athletic ability but a questionable mid-range jumper and half court game. He was projected to be a 1st round pick and, to most, has lived up to that 'hype' fitting in his role with SA quite well. He is an above average 3 who has been allowed to grow into his role as a 3rd or 4th option.

Neal was an undrafted player coming out of Towson (IIRC) with a penchant for being a scoring 1/2. His handles were a bit questionable and got lumped into the 'tweener' category. He polished his handles in Euroleague and came home a better player. His jumper was never in question and that showed in his limited time off the bench and a few starts with the Spurs.

Not sure if the Spurs system is gold or not, but it works for them.

The success of the Spurs system is pretty simple:
an elite core of players
an elite coach - there might be 3 or 4 in the league at a time and Popovich is definitely one
a front office that continually looks to improve the team - draft/trades/free agency/waiver cast offs
a culture focused on efficiency and teamwork

Getting a team to that point is the hard part.