ATL - Oladipo is Really Good (and Bledsoe dominant again)

[Ayt]

Man is Rose athletic.

[paul]

I can't put the Rockets or Thunder ahead of them right now (at least while Westbrook is out). The Rockets don't even have a PF on their team yet unless I'm missing someone. They need to make a move somewhere.

DeAndre has great potential as a defender, and honestly, Griffin has a decent amount as well with his rare blend of quickness and leaping ability for a big man.

They both would rather slap a block into the tenth row and bump chests than play defense and secure the ball, they both jump every single time someone looks like going up, they are both awful positional defenders. Jordan might block 4 shots a game this year and still be one of the worst defensive anchors in the NBA.

We'll see how it plays out I guess - if they had of got KG and sent Jordan to the bench they'd be close to title favorites right now for me.

Yeah, I think it'll come down to whether or not Doc can get them to buy in to playing team defense rather than highlight defense, but they have the talent on paper to be a serious threat to the Heat.

Honestly I don't see that. Compare them to the Warriors for example.

Curry < Paul
Klay >>> Reddick
Iggy >>> Dudley
Lee < Griffin
Bogut >>> Jordan

Warriors bench = Clips bench.

For me the Warriors have got them covered pretty comfortably for talent (albeit not on the coaching staff) and I still think the Warriors are just behind the Spurs and healthy Thunder with the Rockets and Grizz somewhere there. It's ridiculously early to try to make the call, but I can't see the Clips as constructed even getting to the WCF.

Of all the contenders they've got easily the worst collection of defensive bigs, hell they have one of the worst collections of defensive bigs in the entire league. Jordan, Griffin, Mullens, Hollins, Jamison. Lulz.

[paul]

Man is Rose athletic.

I'm still in preseason form, didn't realize they'd started.

[paul]

Rose and Godleavy, I'm going to enjoy watching the Bulls more this year.

[blazza18]

Only thing I like about the Clippers is Paul and Doc.



So good to see Rose back.

[Ayt]

I'm not making a prediction, but Rose might steal another MVP from LeBron if the Bulls end up with a better record than the Heat. He is going to have a huge season.

[SupremeHustle]

That octogenarian dude is still a ref?

[paul]

Dunleavy's going to make this team better.

[Ayt]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/kbergcbs/status/395285899581612032[/tweet]

Wow.

That's so awesome.

ETA: It looks like he may have actually stepped down himself.

[tyland]

Hibbert with 8/14 & 4 blocks at the half.

No fouls either. He could beast this year.

[SupremeHustle]

Does Hinrich have to get to the arena 4 hours early just to put all that **** on?

[paul]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/kbergcbs/status/395285899581612032[/tweet]

Wow.

That's so awesome.

I don't even know why they have a GM, Cuban should just save his money.

Still I'd be looking for someone to fire too if I'd just signed Monta and Fat Sammy.

[SupremeHustle]

Donnie Nelson is still the man under the man.

[paul]

Does Hinrich have to get to the arena 4 hours early just to put all that **** on?

He has a guy.

"What do you do for a living Pete?"

"I wrap up Kirk Hinrich in all that sh*t. You?"

[Ayt]

In a sense, the Clippers are like what the Bucks under Herb Kohl might be like should we have won a big lottery prize.

Going back to one of our favorite subjects, the Clips should have called the Bucks last June and proposed Bledsoe and Caron for Redick, Moute and Udoh. Clips need defense and interior defense much more than they needed that extra offensive toy in Dudley. Of course maybe they did make that call and we laughed them off the phone.

I have no faith in the Clips maintaining excellence. The owner will mess it up.

Yep. I don't understand what they are doing.

Every championship team has a premier wing defender and a post defender. Clippers have nobody close to that at all. The fact they signed Jamison shows how clueless they are. They'll never get to the finals without those two elements. The Celtics never were able to replicate what Posey & PJ Brown brought to their team and they didn't win another championship without them.

Injuries and age had much, much more to do with it than Posey and Brown. They won it all in 2008-09. The next year KG got hurt and was out for the playoffs. The following season, KG wasn't as effective as he had been because of the knee, but they had a frontline of KG, Perk, Baby, and Sheed. On the wing, they had Tony Allen as the elite wing defender off the bench. They weren't lacking in elite post and wing defenders.

The following season, everyone was a year older and the Heat existed.

[SupremeHustle]

Afflalo is not very good.

[paul]

Hibbert with 8/14 & 4 blocks at the half.

No fouls either. He could beast this year.

Yeah he was so bad for the first half of last season that it clouded what he did for the second half, if he shows up early this season he could put up some big numbers for the season.

Vuc was really just napping for the first quarter though, wasn't getting a body on him at all. Think Hibbert had 12 boards at quarter time.

[paul]

Afflalo is not very good.

He disagrees.

[bullox]

Signing Monta is a fireable offense. We already knew that...

"And for that reason, you're out."

- Cuban to the GM

[Baddy Chuck]

Afflalo is good when he's not arguably a teams best player.