Around the League

[DBC10]

Has a previous MVP winner ever won both MVP and Most improved?

I feel like Curry has a shot for both of those awards, one being a better case than the other of course (MVP). Curry somehow got better this year, and I don't know how that is even possible.

EDIT: Is anyone suspecting that Lebron is on a noticeable decline now? It's almost eerily similar to how much of a decline Josh Smith was on when he came here. Although, obviously Lebron is still overall the best player.

per ESPN:

Rough night for LeBron •Worst plus/minus of career (-35) •Worst home loss of career (34) •Largest deficit ever (43)

That's the thing: LeBron isn't the best player anymore. Durant and Westbrook have both been just as good this season, and Curry has been significantly better. On impact, talent, stats...by whatever measure Curry is the best player in the world right now. He's like the anti-leBron...enhances fellow all star level players rather than diminishing them, seemingly never lets his team down in high pressure situations and does it all while being pretty humble (off the court at least).

Yeah, I mean LeBron still is a force but whether we agree about the best, it's too clear that he's heading for a steep decline if he doesn't change his game up. He can still dunk and drive the lanes like the best in the world, but he's clearly lost a bit of that old peppiness he had when he was younger.

And I don't want to hear about how Lebron doesn't have "help" anymore. He has a top 10 PG and a top 10 PF in the world on his team along with capable role players. He's just not getting it done like he is supposed to.

Which makes what Curry doing even more remarkable. He's seriously stepped his game up that the rest of his teammates are so flexible on offense due to the immense attention Curry brings.

[Todd3]

I have Khris Middleton on my fantasy team and it's making me cry knowing he should be doing this **** for us and not the Bucks.

**** you Joe.

Who would you give up off our current roster to make room for the 15m/yr salary it would've cost us to resign him, had we not traded him?

Obviously Jennings wouldn't be on the roster, so thats' 8m of it, but who makes up the other 7m?

I guess we wouldn't have traded for Morris had we paid Middleton last summer, so that is probably the answer, so would you rather have Middleton for 15m/yr over Morris/Jennings? I guess that's the question.

[Todd3]

Has a previous MVP winner ever won both MVP and Most improved?

I feel like Curry has a shot for both of those awards, one being a better case than the other of course (MVP). Curry somehow got better this year, and I don't know how that is even possible.

EDIT: Is anyone suspecting that Lebron is on a noticeable decline now? It's almost eerily similar to how much of a decline Josh Smith was on when he came here. Although, obviously Lebron is still overall the best player.

per ESPN:

That's the thing: LeBron isn't the best player anymore. Durant and Westbrook have both been just as good this season, and Curry has been significantly better. On impact, talent, stats...by whatever measure Curry is the best player in the world right now. He's like the anti-leBron...enhances fellow all star level players rather than diminishing them, seemingly never lets his team down in high pressure situations and does it all while being pretty humble (off the court at least).

Yeah, I mean LeBron still is a force but whether we agree about the best, it's too clear that he's heading for a steep decline if he doesn't change his game up. He can still dunk and drive the lanes like the best in the world, but he's clearly lost a bit of that old peppiness he had when he was younger.

And I don't want to hear about how Lebron doesn't have "help" anymore. He has a top 10 PG and a top 10 PF in the world on his team along with capable role players. He's just not getting it done like he is supposed to.

Which makes what Curry doing even more remarkable. He's seriously stepped his game up that the rest of his teammates are so flexible on offense due to the immense attention Curry brings.

Except Love isn't a top 10 PF (and if he is it's at the very low end) and Irving is always hurt. People overestimate the talent on that roster.

GS has way more talent around Curry and also better constructed in terms of fit. Cavs have too many defensive bigs who can't shoot and the one who can plays no defense. Same in the backcourt. It's either shooters with Irving/Smith or defenders with Shumpert/Deladova. GS has 2 way players all over their roster and LeBron has all 1 way players around him. That is the difference imo.

Almost every meeting between those teams it's Cavs either can't score enough or can't stop them. It's because one team can play both ends at all times and the other has to keep making offense/defense substitutions. One of the reasons the Bulls could never beat MIA. LeBron is just on other side this time. It's not him, it's the overrated talent and coaching around him, and poor roster construction. Should've been expected when you sign up for the Cavs though, so he has no one to blame but himself for being in that situation. MIA was the better fit for him all around.

[joedumars1]

That's the thing: LeBron isn't the best player anymore. Durant and Westbrook have both been just as good this season, and Curry has been significantly better. On impact, talent, stats...by whatever measure Curry is the best player in the world right now. He's like the anti-leBron...enhances fellow all star level players rather than diminishing them, seemingly never lets his team down in high pressure situations and does it all while being pretty humble (off the court at least).

Yeah, I mean LeBron still is a force but whether we agree about the best, it's too clear that he's heading for a steep decline if he doesn't change his game up. He can still dunk and drive the lanes like the best in the world, but he's clearly lost a bit of that old peppiness he had when he was younger.

And I don't want to hear about how Lebron doesn't have "help" anymore. He has a top 10 PG and a top 10 PF in the world on his team along with capable role players. He's just not getting it done like he is supposed to.

Which makes what Curry doing even more remarkable. He's seriously stepped his game up that the rest of his teammates are so flexible on offense due to the immense attention Curry brings.

Except Love isn't a top 10 PF (and if he is it's at the very low end) and Irving is always hurt. People overestimate the talent on that roster.

GS has way more talent around Curry and also better constructed in terms of fit. Cavs have too many defensive bigs who can't shoot and the one who can plays no defense. Same in the backcourt. It's either shooters with Irving/Smith or defenders with Shumpert/Deladova. GS has 2 way players all over their roster and LeBron has all 1 way players around him. That is the difference imo.

Almost every meeting between those teams it's Cavs either can't score enough or can't stop them. It's because one team can play both ends at all times and the other has to keep making offense/defense substitutions. One of the reasons the Bulls could never beat MIA. LeBron is just on other side this time. It's not him, it's the overrated talent and coaching around him, and poor roster construction. Should've been expected when you sign up for the Cavs though, so he has no one to blame but himself for being in that situation. MIA was the better fit for him all around.

Shump shooting 35% from three league average almost, Delly 44% way above league average. Yeah I think they can do more than play Defense. Love really hurts them tho

[Todd3]

Yeah, I mean LeBron still is a force but whether we agree about the best, it's too clear that he's heading for a steep decline if he doesn't change his game up. He can still dunk and drive the lanes like the best in the world, but he's clearly lost a bit of that old peppiness he had when he was younger.

And I don't want to hear about how Lebron doesn't have "help" anymore. He has a top 10 PG and a top 10 PF in the world on his team along with capable role players. He's just not getting it done like he is supposed to.

Which makes what Curry doing even more remarkable. He's seriously stepped his game up that the rest of his teammates are so flexible on offense due to the immense attention Curry brings.

Except Love isn't a top 10 PF (and if he is it's at the very low end) and Irving is always hurt. People overestimate the talent on that roster.

GS has way more talent around Curry and also better constructed in terms of fit. Cavs have too many defensive bigs who can't shoot and the one who can plays no defense. Same in the backcourt. It's either shooters with Irving/Smith or defenders with Shumpert/Deladova. GS has 2 way players all over their roster and LeBron has all 1 way players around him. That is the difference imo.

Almost every meeting between those teams it's Cavs either can't score enough or can't stop them. It's because one team can play both ends at all times and the other has to keep making offense/defense substitutions. One of the reasons the Bulls could never beat MIA. LeBron is just on other side this time. It's not him, it's the overrated talent and coaching around him, and poor roster construction. Should've been expected when you sign up for the Cavs though, so he has no one to blame but himself for being in that situation. MIA was the better fit for him all around.

Shump shooting 35% from three league average almost, Delly 44% way above league average. Yeah I think they can do more than play Defense. Love really hurts them tho

C'mon, both those guys are in their rotation for their defense, not shooting. They can shoot too, but neither come anywhere close to matching Curry/Klay as shooters, and the 2 guys they have that do (Irving/Smith) can't guard them, so they are constantly having to make offense/defense substitutions to keep up. Whereas Curry/Klay are great on both ends, thus the Cavs are either at a disadvantage in shooting or defense at all times in the backcourt vs them.

[mattao313]

Andre in the last 10 games shooting 25% from FT line 35% on the season. That is mind boggling. It is a shame he can't shoot FT's at all, his makes are basically luck. You really have to question his work ethic its no way someone should be shooting this bad.

[DBC10]

Yeah, Devin Booker would've been nice on this team. The guy has been studding it up after getting his minutes.

Also, Wade looks done and Khris Middleton is playing at an all-star level right now. I remember that lone contrarian saying that we should try to get Wade because of some silly reason.

[RSCD3_]

Lebron's at the same level last year, arguable from spots #2-5 with Kawhi, Durant, Westbrook, #1 if he finds his jumper in the PS.

You want to hear something funny though it's that his athletic ability has been relatively the same, since 2013 it's just his shooting that fell off a cliff, and looking at the tape 2011 and 2012 lebron were less athletic than this version, it's his jumper absolutely sucking that's keeping him from 60% TS or 52-53 FG%

[DBC10]

Lebron's at the same level last year, arguable from spots #2-5 with Kawhi, Durant, Westbrook, #1 if he finds his jumper in the PS.

You want to hear something funny though it's that his athletic ability has been relatively the same, since 2013 it's just his shooting that fell off a cliff, and looking at the tape 2011 and 2012 lebron were less athletic than this version, it's his jumper absolutely sucking that's keeping him from 60% TS or 52-53 FG%

Someone pointed out that he doesn't have the same lift and he often settles for bad shots too often too. A lot of the times, defense are daring him to shoot and he obliges. If he doesn't find his jumper back, I can see his game aging really terribly. He's not even posting up that effectively either.

[RSCD3_]

Lebron's at the same level last year, arguable from spots #2-5 with Kawhi, Durant, Westbrook, #1 if he finds his jumper in the PS.

You want to hear something funny though it's that his athletic ability has been relatively the same, since 2013 it's just his shooting that fell off a cliff, and looking at the tape 2011 and 2012 lebron were less athletic than this version, it's his jumper absolutely sucking that's keeping him from 60% TS or 52-53 FG%

Someone pointed out that he doesn't have the same lift and he often settles for bad shots too often too. A lot of the times, defense are daring him to shoot and he obliges. If he doesn't find his jumper back, I can see his game aging really terribly. He's not even posting up that effectively either.

His lift has worse than it was back in his early miami years but his straight line speed is better if that makes any sense. I dont know why it is like that but his shooting is the more immediate problem because in 2011 and 2012 people were really thinking lebron was gonna fall off a cliff yet in 2015 and 2016 he can attack better off the drive if he has the same respect for his jumper and spacing. His weight loss and lack of lift though has caused his finishing to suffer.

I predict he'll be a clearly top 5 player for one more year, arguable top 5 and then he'll fall off hard.

[Cowology]

Uncle Spliffy!

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14621057/cliff-robinson-open-marijuana-business-called-uncle-spliffy

[Blkbrd671]

its so funny reading the GB troll thread and listening to these sportscasters talk about Andre's FT problem and how he needs to learn how to shoot FT's. We are 10-5 with Dre shooting so poorly, i think they forgot that Wins are the only thing that matters. Does it detract from Dre needing to improve, no, but the arguments they make sound like they completely lose sight of whats ultimately important.

Dre goes 0-20 from FT line but Pistons win

RealGM Poster: "Pistons will never win as long as Dre can't improve his FT's"

F* Idiots

[El Chivo]

Ft is not his main weakness. Attitude and defensive effort are.

[bballnmike]

Cavs just fired Blatt and agreed to a multi year deal for Ty Lou to become the head coach o.0 what??

[MrBigShot]

Finals berth in his first season despite injuries to their 2nd and 3rd best players in the playoffs, and 30-11 to start this year.

What the hell were they expecting from Blatt?

[DBC10]

Cavs are being run by Lebron, anyone not named him who are involved in the FO are just proxies set up by him. I'm surprised Blatt actually stayed on that long considering he was brought in to make magic happen with his swing the ball system that was so successful in his Euro days. Too bad Lebron came in before he can even implement that.

It'd be hilarious if Blatt goes to Minnesota and the Timberwolves basically become the anti-Lebrons. Coaches like Blatt, Thibs, and maybe even Joerger soon won't have a hard time getting back a HC gig.

EDIT: Also, really wouldn't be surprised if Love is next out of town. There are tweets coming in that when the team meeting was called today after the firing, the some of the players speculated that Love was being traded.

hahahahahaha. Cavs are soooo messed up.

[Blkbrd671]

Cavs just fired Blatt and agreed to a multi year deal for Ty Lou to become the head coach o.0 what??

Dude you have to have seen this coming being that

The Cavaliers currently have the best record in the Eastern Conference and reached the 2015 NBA Finals.

Obviously a move they had to make.


What a f* sh* show cleveland still is

[DBC10]

Curry is just a walking anomaly. This guy literally just heaved a 3 from halfcourt and made it for his 200th 3 pointer.

What's incredible is, he did this the first quarter AND made it but it didn't count. He made sure to make it count this time for the end of the 2nd...WTF.

History will look back on Curry as easily the best shooter and every kid growing up will want to shoot like him. The future of the league is going to get a LOT more 3 point heavy.

[Snakebites]

I really hope the Cavs fall flat on their arses. Its hard to exactly know what was going on behind the scenes there, but I'm frankly skeptical of all of the reports we've had about Blatt's competence and think this is really more about Lebron. Oh, and of course the owner and general manager who are scrambling to make it look like they're still in charge and there were plenty of legitimate reasons to fire the guy.

[Kilo]

Blatt was going to have a tough time regardless making the jump from Euroball to the NBA and that's when was joining the Wiggins Cavs team where he could mold young players and not be expected to win right away. There is just too much cultural differences - he should have signed on to be an assistant coach in the NBA first, but his stature in Euroball just wouldn't allow it I guess. Maybe Pop will hire him to his staff when Messina gets a head coaching gig.