Around the NBA III

[Coxy]

Westbrook with 17 3's attempted and counting!

That 4th quarter was the most satisfying melt down from Wetsook ever. I don't hate they guy or anything, but I have been debating Westbrooks ball hogging, anti-team play, personality and his ability to somehow make his teammates all regress dramatically on this site over the last few months, and that 4th quarter was exactly what I've been talking about. KD knew this, bolted when he got the chance. Durant knew exactly what he was doing by leaving, and I'm certain it wasn't just about joining Golden State.

The dude needs a tough as nails coach to drive structure into his thick skull, someone like Pop, or else the Thunder are just going to be watching a 1 man crap show for the next few years. He needs a coach that will simply just bench his ass when he starts going Han Solo mode.

[ILOVEIT]

Watching Clippers slowly fade..marvelous.

[shazam_guy]

I'm not really thrilled with Westbrook either, especially when everybody talks about him like his game is flawless. But what I really wanted to talk about is how it irritates me that the NBA gives Draymond so much s*** for being Draymond, but Westbrook can be as chippy and unpleasant as he wants and I never hear anyone complain. It may not be entirely his fault -- he may just have Resting Bitch Face -- but he always looks like he's having a difficult bowel movement and it's YOUR FAULT.

[Coxy]

I'm not really thrilled with Westbrook either, especially when everybody talks about him like his game is flawless. But what I really wanted to talk about is how it irritates me that the NBA gives Draymond so much s*** for being Draymond, but Westbrook can be as chippy and unpleasant as he wants and I never hear anyone complain. It may not be entirely his fault -- he may just have Resting Bitch Face -- but he always looks like he's having a difficult bowel movement and it's YOUR FAULT.

Ha, spot on. He always seems disgusted at everything. Just an angry, prickly, uninspiring person that gets through it all with insane athleticism. Just a bizarre dude that I wouldn't want to build my franchise around at all.

[Impuniti]

Watching Clippers slowly fade..marvelous.

No! I wanted the Warriors to bully them.

[wco81]

I think Utah would be a much tougher matchup.

Joe Johnson is really playing well and Hood was shooting with a lot of confidence last night.

[and1GS]

Quick thought - Are the Celtics the least impressive top seed we've seen in the past decade? Just looking at their roster there's an absurd amount of re-tooling that needs to happen in the offseason. Off the top of my head they'll need to address:

1) Isaiah Thomas: Great player that you have to keep because he's worth more to you than anyone else. That said, you can't realistically expect him to win in the playoffs with a high usage rate and no scoring support from teammates.

2) Absurdly Small Backcourt: It's like they went out of their way to sign up short players. And they aren't even short for 2s, these guys are diminutive as PGs! Isaiah (5'7"), Bradley (6'2") and Smart (6'4") are all well below their average positional heights. If you could somehow combine Bradley with Smart they'd be a great player, but the latter can't shoot for **** and the former comes in at the 2, giving them two guys under 6'3" in the backcourt. All that said, they're about to draft another small guard in Fultz . At least 2 of these guys have to go.

3) The SF Problem: Jae Crowder? Come on. Ideally they'd get a superstar 3, but they either need a guy who is 100% defense (Kidd-Gilchrist maybe?) or 100% offense (Keith Van Horn maybe?) and then build the rest of the lineup around that.

4) Al Horford: Such a nice final piece to have. Shame that they need much, much more from him.

5) The frontcourt: They seriously need to sit down and say 'are we going full small ball with Al at the 5 or do we want him to be a stretch 4?' because Kelly Olynk is NOT the answer. If they could get someone like Biyombo to play the 5 that would be incredible.

I bring all of this up because they have an absurd amount of trade assets this offseason and we could see a totally different roster next year. Ton of potential with a great coach, will be interesting to see how it pans out...

[Coxy]

Quick thought - Are the Celtics the least impressive top seed we've seen in the past decade? Just looking at their roster there's an absurd amount of re-tooling that needs to happen in the offseason. Off the top of my head they'll need to address:

1) Isaiah Thomas: Great player that you have to keep because he's worth more to you than anyone else. That said, you can't realistically expect him to win in the playoffs with a high usage rate and no scoring support from teammates.

2) Absurdly Small Backcourt: It's like they went out of their way to sign up short players. And they aren't even short for 2s, these guys are diminutive as PGs! Isaiah (5'7"), Bradley (6'2") and Smart (6'4") are all well below their average positional heights. If you could somehow combine Bradley with Smart they'd be a great player, but the latter can't shoot for **** and the former comes in at the 2, giving them two guys under 6'3" in the backcourt. All that said, they're about to draft another small guard in Fultz . At least 2 of these guys have to go.

3) The SF Problem: Jae Crowder? Come on. Ideally they'd get a superstar 3, but they either need a guy who is 100% defense (Kidd-Gilchrist maybe?) or 100% offense (Keith Van Horn maybe?) and then build the rest of the lineup around that.

4) Al Horford: Such a nice final piece to have. Shame that they need much, much more from him.

5) The frontcourt: They seriously need to sit down and say 'are we going full small ball with Al at the 5 or do we want him to be a stretch 4?' because Kelly Olynk is NOT the answer. If they could get someone like Biyombo to play the 5 that would be incredible.

I bring all of this up because they have an absurd amount of trade assets this offseason and we could see a totally different roster next year. Ton of potential with a great coach, will be interesting to see how it pans out...

Gordon Hayward or Paul George would propell them to the next level massively. They have the assets to easily make it work as well.

[Quazza]

Quick thought - Are the Celtics the least impressive top seed we've seen in the past decade? Just looking at their roster there's an absurd amount of re-tooling that needs to happen in the offseason. Off the top of my head they'll need to address:

1) Isaiah Thomas: Great player that you have to keep because he's worth more to you than anyone else. That said, you can't realistically expect him to win in the playoffs with a high usage rate and no scoring support from teammates.

2) Absurdly Small Backcourt: It's like they went out of their way to sign up short players. And they aren't even short for 2s, these guys are diminutive as PGs! Isaiah (5'7"), Bradley (6'2") and Smart (6'4") are all well below their average positional heights. If you could somehow combine Bradley with Smart they'd be a great player, but the latter can't shoot for **** and the former comes in at the 2, giving them two guys under 6'3" in the backcourt. All that said, they're about to draft another small guard in Fultz . At least 2 of these guys have to go.

3) The SF Problem: Jae Crowder? Come on. Ideally they'd get a superstar 3, but they either need a guy who is 100% defense (Kidd-Gilchrist maybe?) or 100% offense (Keith Van Horn maybe?) and then build the rest of the lineup around that.

4) Al Horford: Such a nice final piece to have. Shame that they need much, much more from him.

5) The frontcourt: They seriously need to sit down and say 'are we going full small ball with Al at the 5 or do we want him to be a stretch 4?' because Kelly Olynk is NOT the answer. If they could get someone like Biyombo to play the 5 that would be incredible.

I bring all of this up because they have an absurd amount of trade assets this offseason and we could see a totally different roster next year. Ton of potential with a great coach, will be interesting to see how it pans out...

Gordon Hayward or Paul George would propell them to the next level massively. They have the assets to easily make it work as well.

Hayward is way under rated. Really like him is a player

[wco81]

Damn Calderon is balling out for the Hawks.

I know the Warriors had no choice but to go after Barnes but Calderon is executing under high pressure.

[Impuniti]

Damn Calderon is balling out for the Hawks.

I know the Warriors had no choice but to go after Barnes but Calderon is executing under high pressure.

If Warriors win this year, the influx of FA that will want to come to the Bay is going to be infinite.

[Chris Porter's Hair]

I noticed Keith Smart on the Memphis bench, and was observing that for all the people here who thought he was "dumb", apparently the league doesn't agree, because he keeps getting coaching jobs.

Then I started thinking of all the cases where that is NOT the case. Since I've held my season tickets, I'm pretty sure we've had at least 3 head coaches that never got another NBA coaching job once they left here. Did any of Musselman, Montgomery, or Mark Jackson get a job I'm forgetting? Did I miss anyone?

[hamncheese]

I noticed Keith Smart on the Memphis bench, and was observing that for all the people here who thought he was "dumb", apparently the league doesn't agree, because he keeps getting coaching jobs.

Then I started thinking of all the cases where that is NOT the case. Since I've held my season tickets, I'm pretty sure we've had at least 3 head coaches that never got another NBA coaching job once they left here. Did any of Musselman, Montgomery, or Mark Jackson get a job I'm forgetting? Did I miss anyone?

Musselman was head coach of the Kings after he left the Warriors. After the Kings, he was just D-league, international, and college.

[Chris Porter's Hair]

I noticed Keith Smart on the Memphis bench, and was observing that for all the people here who thought he was "dumb", apparently the league doesn't agree, because he keeps getting coaching jobs.

Then I started thinking of all the cases where that is NOT the case. Since I've held my season tickets, I'm pretty sure we've had at least 3 head coaches that never got another NBA coaching job once they left here. Did any of Musselman, Montgomery, or Mark Jackson get a job I'm forgetting? Did I miss anyone?

Musselman was head coach of the Kings after he left the Warriors. After the Kings, he was just D-league, international, and college.

Oh right! Forgot about that. Not for very long, as I recall?

[and1GS]

I noticed Keith Smart on the Memphis bench, and was observing that for all the people here who thought he was "dumb", apparently the league doesn't agree, because he keeps getting coaching jobs.

Then I started thinking of all the cases where that is NOT the case. Since I've held my season tickets, I'm pretty sure we've had at least 3 head coaches that never got another NBA coaching job once they left here. Did any of Musselman, Montgomery, or Mark Jackson get a job I'm forgetting? Did I miss anyone?

Musselman was head coach of the Kings after he left the Warriors. After the Kings, he was just D-league, international, and college.

Oh right! Forgot about that. Not for very long, as I recall?

I want to say it was a year or less. Montgomery was scarred by the NBA and went right back to Bay Area NCAA. MJax hasn't even had an interview. Cowens also never got another shot. Going even further back, Brian Winters was our interim coach and he never got another shot. Maybe not even as an assistant. I always did like Musselman, though.

The most interesting semi-related to the Warriors coaching arc IMO is Avery Johnson. Bursts onto the scene, wins coach of the year, fired almost immediately after then got one more coaching job much later on and has been blackballed ever since. So bizarre.

[Coxy]

The most interesting semi-related to the Warriors coaching arc IMO is Avery Johnson. Bursts onto the scene, wins coach of the year, fired almost immediately after then got one more coaching job much later on and has been blackballed ever since. So bizarre.

It's because no-one can understand him. That accent is like rubbing a cheese grater on your ears.

[Impuniti]

Paper clips won tonight. G7 on Sunday. Gives more rest, more importantly for Kerr to get his crap sorted out. Also the dream is still alive to break the Clippers down in the next round.

[and1GS]

Paper clips won tonight. G7 on Sunday. Gives more rest, more importantly for Kerr to get his crap sorted out. Also the dream is still alive to break the Clippers down in the next round.

My body is ready.

[Mylie10]

Larry Bird stepping down is a clear signal Paul George wants out.

[wco81]

I wouldn't just assume Warriors will steamroll the Clippers.

Remember, they swept the Thunder last year in the regular season and then just barely made it out alive in the WCF, including a couple of blowout games.

Utah suddenly couldn't hit open shots in game 6, like they'd been doing all series. Bad time to have a cold spell, esp. if it continues to game 7.

Remember, Steph and Klay shot poorly for the first 2.5 games. Clippers or Utah may be able to exploit such cold spells better than Portland did.