2019-20 NBA Season Discussion

[MartinToVaught]

Wonder if the Raptors can swing a trade for Harden. That seems like the perfect fit for both.

Why would the Rockets trade Harden?

Presumably for the same reason why the Clippers moved on from CP3 and Blake. Their window has closed, and they have no flexibility to meaningfully improve the supporting cast around their stars. Once you get into a situation like this, the best thing to do is to just hit the reset button and start over.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Are pretty much most of us in agreement that the East teams don’t stand much chance against either Lakers or Clippers?

The Celtics look legit? And they'll get Hayward back + will have a huge coaching edge in the Finals?

Slow down. We're most likely not beating Miami and coaching won't mean **** against Lebron and Ad being the 2 best playoff performers in the league right now plus Vogel has been really good too. Lakers depth is underrated too and better than ours

Only thing that can stop a Lakers title is Kawhi being the best player on the floor in their series plus Playoff P .hitting shots

Vogel is still not in the same tier as guys like stevens, even tho i have lakers as favorites

[GSP]

The Celtics look legit? And they'll get Hayward back + will have a huge coaching edge in the Finals?

Slow down. We're most likely not beating Miami and coaching won't mean **** against Lebron and Ad being the 2 best playoff performers in the league right now plus Vogel has been really good too. Lakers depth is underrated too and better than ours

Only thing that can stop a Lakers title is Kawhi being the best player on the floor in their series plus Playoff P .hitting shots

Vogel is still not in the same tier as guys like stevens, even tho i have lakers as favorites

Stevens is the better coach but coaching doesnt matter that much to bridge the talent gap of Lebron/Ad

[ardee]

Who are you guys picking between Boston and Miami?

Hard to say Miami isn't the favorite right? More experienced players, more experienced coach, best player in the series.

[clearlynotjesse]

I think Miami/Boston will give us an interesting take on the importance of depth/rest. I like Boston's first five (six with Hayward) more than Miami's, but 7-12 is cleanly in Miami's favor. Also, the Celtics just got through a seven game slog while Miami took care of the Bucks pretty easily. If Spo can get some good minutes out of his bench to keep his starters that much fresher then I think Miami has the edge.

I'm a believer in depth so my take is Heat in 7.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Miami/Boston should be an intense, high-quality matchup. Really looking forward to it. But, I think Boston is just better and shouldn't be pushed to 7 again.

I hope I'm wrong (pulling for the Lakers... I know, strange times), but I believe the Clippers will finish off Denver and also overwhelm the Lakers and Celtics. Kawhi repeats as Finals MVP and the conversation over how his unusual prime stacks up against others', especially those of his contemporaries, really starts to heat up. If nothing else, Leonard, like LeBron before him, is redefining what constitutes a laudable (or at least "acceptable," or "to be reckoned with") legacy against some long-held tenets called into question by his story.

[No-more-rings]

Are pretty much most of us in agreement that the East teams don’t stand much chance against either Lakers or Clippers?

The Celtics look legit? And they'll get Hayward back + will have a huge coaching edge in the Finals?

What do you mean by legit? Their stars are still fairly young and inexperienced in big playoff series, and in general teams with the better top end players win, Lebron and AD are bonified superstars, and at least in Lebron’s case he’s been there and done it countless times. Kawhi’s an all time great backed up by a good supporting cast too. I can understand the optimism, but I don’t think they’re ready yet.

[freethedevil]

Is it fair to say that this is the end of Morey's ball?

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

[eminence]

Is it fair to say that this is the end of Morey's ball?

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

Not sure on that, AD's gone to the mid range quite a bit.

Though Morey is likely out in Houston I'd guess.

[70sFan]

Is it fair to say that this is the end of Morey's ball?

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Is it fair to say that this is the end of Morey's ball?

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

Yeah the lakers play 4 out 1 in with davis at the 5 too

The only time they play that is some non ad small ball lineups and even then its rare

[Heej]

Random thought dunno if people already mentioned this but these Raptors were very 94 Bulls-esque picking up after Kawhi left. Shows how stacked that team really was just because the role players are ALL 2-way guys vs having different 1-way guys sprinkled in, which appears to have a tangible synergistic effect when it comes to roster construction. This year would've been a laugher if Kawhi and Danny Green decided to run it back in Toronto lol

[freethedevil]

Is it fair to say that this is the end of Morey's ball?

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

they do the morey thing with rondo-ad lineups. AD being a big doesn't change that they're using him the same way morey uses harden.

[freethedevil]

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

Yeah the lakers play 4 out 1 in with davis at the 5 too

The only time they play that is some non ad small ball lineups and even then its rare

Size isn't really the point, its skillset. AD is essentially used as harden offensively when lebron goes off and rondo ebcomes westbrook

[70sFan]

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

they do the morey thing with rondo-ad lineups. AD being a big doesn't change that they're using him the same way morey uses harden.

What? Tell me when Davis played high P&Rs and attack from perimeter to make defense collapse and find open shooter. Davis didn't play like Harden at any point of this series.

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

Yeah the lakers play 4 out 1 in with davis at the 5 too

The only time they play that is some non ad small ball lineups and even then its rare

Size isn't really the point, its skillset. AD is essentially used as harden offensively when lebron goes off and rondo ebcomes westbrook

Rondo played like a traditional point guard who tries to find his teammates in best spots, Westbrook played isolation scorer and off-ball cutter role. How is that similar?

[freethedevil]

What? Lakers don't use it at all. They have two players willing to play in the post and shoot from midrange and they don't even play small ball.

they do the morey thing with rondo-ad lineups. AD being a big doesn't change that they're using him the same way morey uses harden.

What? Tell me when Davis played high P&Rs and attack from perimeter to make defense collapse and find open shooter. Davis didn't play like Harden at any point of this series.

Yeah the lakers play 4 out 1 in with davis at the 5 too

The only time they play that is some non ad small ball lineups and even then its rare

Size isn't really the point, its skillset. AD is essentially used as harden offensively when lebron goes off and rondo ebcomes westbrook

Rondo played like a traditional point guard who tries to find his teammates in best spots, Westbrook played isolation scorer and off-ball cutter role. How is that similar?

In game 3 when the lakers got the 21 point lead, it was basically off spamming rondo going hyper-speed and a bunch of early clock possessoins shots. As an alternate they
d have ad slowly bring the ball up for and iso and then just shoot over the defender or kick out for a three. It's just like how the rox would run westbrook and harden.

What? Tell me when Davis played high P&Rs and attack from perimeter to make defense collapse and find open shooter. Davis didn't play like Harden at any point of this series.

Whenever lebron went off?

[freethedevil]

Is it fair to say that this is the end of Morey's ball?

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

Not sure on that, AD's gone to the mid range quite a bit.

Though Morey is likely out in Houston I'd guess.

Uhh, wasn't that part of what they got westbrook and chris paul for?

[70sFan]

they do the morey thing with rondo-ad lineups. AD being a big doesn't change that they're using him the same way morey uses harden.

What? Tell me when Davis played high P&Rs and attack from perimeter to make defense collapse and find open shooter. Davis didn't play like Harden at any point of this series.

Size isn't really the point, its skillset. AD is essentially used as harden offensively when lebron goes off and rondo ebcomes westbrook

Rondo played like a traditional point guard who tries to find his teammates in best spots, Westbrook played isolation scorer and off-ball cutter role. How is that similar?

In game 3 when the lakers got the 21 point lead, it was basically off spamming rondo going hyper-speed and a bunch of early clock possessoins shots. As an alternate they
d have ad slowly bring the ball up for and iso and then just shoot over the defender or kick out for a three. It's just like how the rox would run westbrook and harden.

What? Tell me when Davis played high P&Rs and attack from perimeter to make defense collapse and find open shooter. Davis didn't play like Harden at any point of this series.

Whenever lebron went off?

That's not Morey's ball though, just because someone plays isolations doesn't mean that teams play like Houston. Davis didn't play like Harden at all.

[eminence]

Given that the lakers themselves have been using it, no, not really.

Not sure on that, AD's gone to the mid range quite a bit.

Though Morey is likely out in Houston I'd guess.

Uhh, wasn't that part of what they got westbrook and chris paul for?

Kinda sorta. But if we're looking at it by team, the list of mid range shot attempt rates goes approximately like this:

1. AD

2. Westbrook

3. Kuzma
4. Rondo
5. KCP
6. LeBron
7. Danny Green

The Lakers are just way way more willing to shoot those shots than the Rockets are.

[70sFan]

We can't call every isolation-heavy scheme a Morey ball. Rockets played very specific type of basketball and Lakers didn't play similary at all.