Around the NBA, 2016-17 Season thread

[NyCeEvO]

Can we officially give Kyle Lowry the deron williams p*ssy hurt award? Dude conveniently disappears and suffers from various maladies in playoff games like the bitchass himself. Smh good luck to the sucker GM that pays him


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I don't really think thats fair.

Lowry plays hard in the regular season and he lead them to 2 wins over the Cavs in the ECF last year.

Lebron went into God Mode this playoffs and Lowry was legitimately injured.

Deron on the other hand, NEVER once had a good regular season and was ALWAYS trash in the Playoffs. Despite having more talent on his team than Lowry.

The best we could do with him was barely scrape by the Raptors in the 1st round. Which he honestly had nothing to do with.

This.

Plus, it is so clear that Lowry does not like Casey. He believes (and I agree 100%) that Casey's play style does not work in the playoffs. The Raptors only turned it around in the series against the Bucks after the players had a meeting with the coaching staff and the players pointed out things that needed to change. That's ridiculous!

The only thing that I don't like about Lowry is that if he thinks he's being setup for a failure, he won't go out with 100% effort. Immediately after Game 1 against the Bucks, he talked about knowing what the problem was but he wants to be professional about it. He has said that on several occasions during his Raptors tenure, and it always refers to Casey and the coaching staff not being that good.

[shakendfries]

Can we officially give Kyle Lowry the deron williams p*ssy hurt award? Dude conveniently disappears and suffers from various maladies in playoff games like the bitchass himself. Smh good luck to the sucker GM that pays him


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

I don't really think thats fair.

Lowry plays hard in the regular season and he lead them to 2 wins over the Cavs in the ECF last year.

Lebron went into God Mode this playoffs and Lowry was legitimately injured.

Deron on the other hand, NEVER once had a good regular season and was ALWAYS trash in the Playoffs. Despite having more talent on his team than Lowry.

The best we could do with him was barely scrape by the Raptors in the 1st round. Which he honestly had nothing to do with.

This.

Plus, it is so clear that Lowry does not like Casey. He believes (and I agree 100%) that Casey's play style does not work in the playoffs. The Raptors only turned it around in the series against the Bucks after the players had a meeting with the coaching staff and the players pointed out things that needed to change. That's ridiculous!

The only thing that I don't like about Lowry is that if he thinks he's being setup for a failure, he won't go out with 100% effort. Immediately after Game 1 against the Bucks, he talked about knowing what the problem was but he wants to be professional about it. He has said that on several occasions during his Raptors tenure, and it always refers to Casey and the coaching staff not being that good.

dwill blamed a HOF coach in Sloan, a HOF player in Kidd, an NBA champion in Johnson & Hollins, and even PJ Carlissiemo for being a **** player. When you suck under the bright lights & moments of pressure your opinion is irrelevant - the blame starts with you.


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[vincecarter4pres]

Yeah, Lowry has pretty much always been mediocre to awful in the playoffs.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Anyone else see this?

Sad to hear KG talk about how when they came to Brooklyn, players didn't want to set up and lead.

Watch on YouTube

[vincecarter4pres]

Anyone else see this?

Sad to hear KG talk about how when they came to Brooklyn, players didn't want to set up and lead.

Watch on YouTube

Stefan Bondy had some choice words for these two on Twitter. Basically alluded to the fact KG and Pierce came to camp out of shape that off-season, that they were just as much a part of the "IDGAF" mentality and won't call Deron out by name even though a majority of the mud they're slinging is about him. I also feel he's more so talking about Pierce.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Anyone else see this?

Sad to hear KG talk about how when they came to Brooklyn, players didn't want to set up and lead.

Watch on YouTube

Stefan Bondy had some choice words for these two on Twitter. Basically alluded to the fact KG and Pierce came to camp out of shape that off-season, that they were just as much a part of the "IDGAF" mentality and won't call Deron out by name even though a majority of the mud they're slinging is about him. I also feel he's more so talking about Pierce.

Even if he was out of shape, Pierce was our best player that year and the leader of our team. Something he wasn't expected to be.

And he has called out Deron by name in interviews.

[MrDollarBills]

Anyone else see this?

Sad to hear KG talk about how when they came to Brooklyn, players didn't want to set up and lead.

Watch on YouTube

Stefan Bondy had some choice words for these two on Twitter. Basically alluded to the fact KG and Pierce came to camp out of shape that off-season, that they were just as much a part of the "IDGAF" mentality and won't call Deron out by name even though a majority of the mud they're slinging is about him. I also feel he's more so talking about Pierce.

I thought KG was ready to play and gave us what he had in the tank, his defense was still better than pretty much everyone on the roster outside of Alan Anderson. Pierce started out the season poorly and his hand was messed up but as the season went on, and Pierce moved to PF things turned around quickly. That being said, **** Bondy. Those two weren't brought in here to do half of what they had to do. Lopez went down, Deron was a piece of trash as a professional and on the court. I'm not putting that on either one of them.

This is where Joe Johnson comes in, they praise Johnson, and I will swear til days on end that the main reason Joe Johnson played like that back in 2013-14 is because he respected Pierce and KG and played hard with those guys pushing him.

There's no reason for them to say that dog's name. You only call a dog's name when it's talk to take it outside, feed it, or need it to fetch.

And notice who got shouted out? Alan Anderson. One of the few guys to come through here over the last decade and actually give a rat's ass about playing to win games.

[Prokorov]

Anyone else see this?

Sad to hear KG talk about how when they came to Brooklyn, players didn't want to set up and lead.

Watch on YouTube

Stefan Bondy had some choice words for these two on Twitter. Basically alluded to the fact KG and Pierce came to camp out of shape that off-season, that they were just as much a part of the "IDGAF" mentality and won't call Deron out by name even though a majority of the mud they're slinging is about him. I also feel he's more so talking about Pierce.

I thought KG was ready to play and gave us what he had in the tank, his defense was still better than pretty much everyone on the roster outside of Alan Anderson. Pierce started out the season poorly and his hand was messed up but as the season went on, and Pierce moved to PF things turned around quickly. That being said, **** Bondy. Those two weren't brought in here to do half of what they had to do. Lopez went down, Deron was a piece of trash as a professional and on the court. I'm not putting that on either one of them.

This is where Joe Johnson comes in, they praise Johnson, and I will swear til days on end that the main reason Joe Johnson played like that back in 2013-14 is because he respected Pierce and KG and played hard with those guys pushing him.

There's no reason for them to say that dog's name. You only call a dog's name when it's talk to take it outside, feed it, or need it to fetch.

And notice who got shouted out? Alan Anderson. One of the few guys to come through here over the last decade and actually give a rat's ass about playing to win games.

yeah i cant criticize KG or pierce... they were supposed to be role playing veterans, not the stars of the franchise. joe stepped up becuse he was surounded by guys who cared again, alot of that is KG/Pierce like you said...

but this team failed pre marks because deron/joe/brook dont give a rats ass about winning or competing

[shakendfries]

Spurs are beating the Rockets ass right now, without Kawhi. Speechless

[Prokorov]

Spurs are beating the Rockets ass right now, without Kawhi. Speechless

0 urgency for the rockets from tipoff in an elimination game. thats a bad look for dantoni

[shakendfries]

Spurs are beating the Rockets ass right now, without Kawhi. Speechless

0 urgency for the rockets from tipoff in an elimination game. thats a bad look for dantoni

The real story? we were robbed of watching this backcourt's development:

James Harden's fatal flaw: too passive in pressure situations
Russell Westbrook's fatal flaw: too aggressive in pressure situations

[LostInACrowd]

When you look at the Spurs lineup right now, it gives you hope that the Nets could make the playoffs next year.

[Roy Tarpley]

Harden has been a playoff choker. But it's hard to fault the Rockets season, they won 55 games with Harden and a bunch of role players. They need a second star.

[Roy Tarpley]

Random question: Who's gonna be the Eastern Conference top dogs in 4 years when Lebron is 36 and broken like Kobe was?

Milwaukee? Washington? Philly?

[Born_Ready]

This game for me was a reminder of Harden's performance in the 2012 finals. He was nowhere to be found. He was a lot younger then, but obviously he still isn't ready to be a closer today.

[Prokorov]

Harden has been a playoff choker. But it's hard to fault the Rockets season, they won 55 games with Harden and a bunch of role players. They need a second star.

he was awful tonite... hard to call him a playoff choker when he consistently plays better in the playoffs then the regular season.

Kyle lowry is a playoff choker.
Harden averaged 30/9/6 with 26 PER and 60 TS%

he defintely sucked tonite in an elimination game... but he had a good playoffs overall. losing to the spurs in 6 is no embarassing feat.

[Prokorov]

Random question: Who's gonna be the Eastern Conference top dogs in 4 years when Lebron is 36 and broken like Kobe was?

Milwaukee? Washington? Philly?

no chance its philly, they are going to suck for a long long time. they need to clean house top to bottom. washington is going to be capped out, they have treadmill written all over them

i can see milwaukee.... or eventually a stud FA will sign with the knicks, heat, or bulls,

[shakendfries]

Random question: Who's gonna be the Eastern Conference top dogs in 4 years when Lebron is 36 and broken like Kobe was?

Milwaukee? Washington? Philly?

Right now, it looks like Milwaukee. They appear to have a generational talent in Giannis, and they have a good mix of skilled (Middleton & Parker - skilled scorers) & players with good defensive instincts/two-way fundamentals (Brogdon & Thon). Nice group of young talent brimming with potential.

Miami proved this season that they will likely fight tooth & nail to will their way into the playoffs each season. +Pat Riley is always a dark horse to land a top big name FA.

Washington is pretty good, but their frontcourt isn't exactly brimming with potential. Unless they steal the Splash Bros talent, I'm not sure they have a championship caliber mix (until, at least, they upgrade the 4). They'll contend tho.

Philly has two generational talents in Embiid & Simmons and depending who they get in the lottery this year, they could make a swift turnaround into playoff contention. But with so many question marks surrounding health, chemistry that hasn't been developed on the court that takes years, and general bad mojo surrounding their FO/ecosystem, I couldn't make a real prediction on how it pans out.

And, it hurts to say, but the Celtics only have to hit it right with one lottery pick this offseason to make it official that Billy King Made Boston Great Again

[kamaze]

Random question: Who's gonna be the Eastern Conference top dogs in 4 years when Lebron is 36 and broken like Kobe was?

Milwaukee? Washington? Philly?

In 4 years the Eastern Conference top dogs will be us god dammit. (Wishful thinking)

[Roy Tarpley]

Harden has been a playoff choker. But it's hard to fault the Rockets season, they won 55 games with Harden and a bunch of role players. They need a second star.

he was awful tonite... hard to call him a playoff choker when he consistently plays better in the playoffs then the regular season.

Kyle lowry is a playoff choker.
Harden averaged 30/9/6 with 26 PER and 60 TS%

he defintely sucked tonite in an elimination game... but he had a good playoffs overall. losing to the spurs in 6 is no embarassing feat.

The empirical evidence seems to suggest that Harden is slightly worse in terms of FG/3pt% in the playoffs than the regular season.

44/36/85 on 22 pts, 5 rebs, 6 asts, 3.4 TOs (regular season career)
42/34/87 on 21 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts, 3.2 TOs (playoffs career)

And I would hypothesize that Harden's best playoff numbers come from his time in OKC.

Look at his FG% in the playoffs during his time in HOU compared to his FG% during the regular season:

2013: 39% (44%)
2014: 38% (46%)
2015: 44% (44%)
2016: 41% (44%)
2017: 41% (44%)

There's a similar deficit across his 3PT% too. This suggests that in HOU, Harden has definitely been worse, at least in terms of shooting, during the playoffs than during the regular season.

The eye test also reinforces that Harden has laid shat the bed several times in elimination games during the playoffs, including his 2-11, 10 pt performance against SAS in Game 6 in 2017 and his 2-11, 14 pt performance against GS in Game 5 of 2015.