Around the NBA, 2017-18 Season thread

[Rich Rane]

3 straight playoffs for Toronto getting eliminated by Lebron. This one definitely hurts the most. Hell, even I felt this one.

[shakendfries]

3 straight playoffs for Toronto getting eliminated by Lebron. This one definitely hurts the most. Hell, even I felt this one.

Remember when the oldman Nets exposed the Craptors?

Watch on YouTube

hype

Remember when the Nets got swept by LeBron in the playoffs?

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

me neither

[Rich Rane]

3 straight playoffs for Toronto getting eliminated by Lebron. This one definitely hurts the most. Hell, even I felt this one.

Remember when the oldman Nets exposed the Craptors?

Watch on YouTube

hype

Remember when the Nets got swept by LeBron in the playoffs?

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

me neither

Member berries give me hope.

[steady]

I think it's time for the Raptors to move on from Dwane Casey.

[NyCeEvO]

I think it's time for the Raptors to move on from Dwane Casey.

As well as Lowry, Derozan, and Valanciunas. Blow it all up!

[shakendfries]

I think it's time for the Raptors to move on from Dwane Casey.

Aaron Gordon will play for the Indiana Pacers
& the Raptors will fire Dwayne Casey

shake said it. it was written.

[Roy Tarpley]

I think it's time for the Raptors to move on from Dwane Casey.

Aaron Gordon will play for the Indiana Pacers
& the Raptors will fire Dwayne Casey

shake said it. it was written.

This kills me.

[NyCeEvO]

Casey getting fired isn't something unexpected. It was clear from Masai's comments last year that there is no more room for excuses.

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[vincecarter4pres]

This has been a great game, shame to see Mitchell go down in the waning minutes though.

[MrDollarBills]

Casey getting fired isn't something unexpected. It was clear from Masai's comments last year that there is no more room for excuses.

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Masai needs to look at that roster make up and figure out why the team's highest paid players continue to piss their pants in the playoffs.

[Roy Tarpley]

^ I think Serge Ibaka was the biggest bust for the Raps in the playoffs.

[steady]

So much reading of tea leaves in press over the Rockets / Warriors three games in regular season.

But in the one game Warriors won in Houston both Harden and Durant did not play. In the other two games, buzzer beater on opening night that Rockets won in Oracle, and 8 point game that Rockets won in Houston, Rockets were clearly approaching them as playoff intensity games, using 8 player lineups, whereas Warriors were playing 12 and 10 player lineups. Warriors in the post season is a different beast.

IMO Clint Capela and Chris Paul will be the x factors. (If you can call Chris Paul an x factor when he is so good.) One of the Warriors young big men is going to have to step up. Will be fascinating to see the adjustments and matchups.

[MrDollarBills]

So much reading of tea leaves in press over the Rockets / Warriors three games in regular season.

But in the one game Warriors won in Houston both Harden and Durant did not play. In the other two games, buzzer beater on opening night that Rockets won in Oracle, and 8 point game that Rockets won in Houston, Rockets were clearly approaching them as playoff intensity games, using 8 player lineups, whereas Warriors were playing 12 and 10 player lineups. Warriors in the post season is a different beast.

IMO Clint Capela and Chris Paul will be the x factors. (If you can call Chris Paul an x factor when he is so good.) One of the Warriors young big men is going to have to step up. Will be fascinating to see the adjustments and matchups.

This will be the real NBA Finals

[MrDollarBills]

^ I think Serge Ibaka was the biggest bust for the Raps in the playoffs.

I didn't even notice him on the floor

[steady]

Sixers could just take this Game 5

You know, most folks would say they like Celtics long term prospects over Sixers . But i don’t know — this Joel Embiid guy could be generational talent , if he stays healthy

[MrDollarBills]

Embiid and Simmons could be the best C/PG superstar tandem since O'Neal and Hardaway but Embiid needs to stay healthy and Simmons needs to develop that jumper.

I still though, have to like Boston's core. Tatum is going to be a top 25 player. Brown has serious upside. Irving is still fairly young, so is Heyward. Their main problem is finding out what to do with Tatum and Heyward. Tatum is too good to come off of the bench.

[steady]

Embiid and Simmons could be the best C/PG superstar tandem since O'Neal and Hardaway but Embiid needs to stay healthy and Simmons needs to develop that jumper.

I still though, have to like Boston's core. Tatum is going to be a top 25 player. Brown has serious upside. Irving is still fairly young, so is Heyward. Their main problem is finding out what to do with Tatum and Heyward. Tatum is too good to come off of the bench.

Celtics deserve to win. They are the more disciplined team with more engrained culture of winning.

But what you say about Tatum being a top 25 player is my reason for likng Sixers long term chances. You can’t win. Championship in today’s NBA without at least a couple of players in top 10. IMO. Philly could already have two players with that potential
. That’s huge.

[Jersey Generals]

Sixers needs this off-season: A better coach, more scoring on the bench, more outside shooting, and an iso scorer. Hopefully Fultz can be three of four of those things.

[MrDollarBills]

Embiid and Simmons could be the best C/PG superstar tandem since O'Neal and Hardaway but Embiid needs to stay healthy and Simmons needs to develop that jumper.

I still though, have to like Boston's core. Tatum is going to be a top 25 player. Brown has serious upside. Irving is still fairly young, so is Heyward. Their main problem is finding out what to do with Tatum and Heyward. Tatum is too good to come off of the bench.

Celtics deserve to win. They are the more disciplined team with more engrained culture of winning.

But what you say about Tatum being a top 25 player is my reason for likng Sixers long term chances. You can’t win. Championship in today’s NBA without at least a couple of players in top 10. IMO. Philly could already have two players with that potential
. That’s huge.

Tatum has top 10 player upside. i wouldn't sleep. 48/43/83 59%TS in his rookie season?

[vincecarter4pres]

Embiid and Simmons could be the best C/PG superstar tandem since O'Neal and Hardaway but Embiid needs to stay healthy and Simmons needs to develop that jumper.

I still though, have to like Boston's core. Tatum is going to be a top 25 player. Brown has serious upside. Irving is still fairly young, so is Heyward. Their main problem is finding out what to do with Tatum and Heyward. Tatum is too good to come off of the bench.

I've been thinking about this all playoffs. Does Boston move one of, or both of, Hayward and Irving by next deadline?




Also I was thinking last night, there is really only one option for our team to contend in the next 10 years and that's to wind up lucking into one of those pipe dream scenarios.

Boston and Philly are not only the present, they're the future.
Barring catastrophic injuries, they're here to stay and they're just showing a glimpse of how dominant they're going to be.
We all thought once LeBron got old, KD and Steph, etc., then there was that new window of hope in a few years if our team lucked into a big time young guy, but the way it looks now, we need to land a transcendent talent in one of the next 2 drafts and wind up having someone whose top 15 in the league force their way here through trade or free agency and one of the young guys currently on the roster has to become a top 30 player. If not, there's is almost literally no chance of contention and we might as well shoot to be the Wizards, Heat or Pacers for the next 5+ seasons after the inevitable 18-19 of suckitude.

That's even if we land a top 7 pick and only draft an eventual Beal or Dipo level young talent. Don't even luck into that? We're going to be the F'ing current Pistons or Clippers, or Hornets...

And there's teams like the Bucks who can get tremendously better in the East and teams like Portland, Utah and Denver out West who are on a serious come up or are one move away from transitioning from treadmill to legit contender.



I hate to be grim, or go from the recent unfounded optimism to the direct polar opposite, but the truth is we're going to have to get beyond lucky to dig out of this Billy King hole before maybe 2026-27 and I'm not being dramatic, I'm saying that very matter of fact. There's a good chance we become treadmill and capped out just by default of all the uncontrollable variables at this point and it takes almost a decade before we bottom out again and land some phenom whose right this moment picking his nose with a pencil eraser in the backseat of his parent's jalopy on his way to 3rd grade daydreaming about the cheese sandwich in his Steven Universe lunch box.

Tis a sad existence being a Nets fan...