Around the NBA, 2017-18 Season thread

[Roy Tarpley]

Agree. On raw talent, the Nets are bottom 5. But as a coherent team, I think the Nets are better than:

Suns, Grizzlies, Hawks, Mavericks, Magic, Bulls, and arguably the Knicks and Kings.

[brook]

Agree. On raw talent, the Nets are bottom 5. But as a coherent team, I think the Nets are better than:

Suns, Grizzlies, Hawks, Mavericks, Magic, Bulls, and arguably the Knicks and Kings.

Better than Grizzlies? They have Gasol and Conley. No way.
Better than Dallas, maybe, because they're in the West, but they add Jordan and Doncic who is a stud.
I don't know about Bulls and Suns. Suns add Ayton, Ariza and Bridges and specially a real coach.
Bulls are very young but talented with Lavine, Markkanen, Carter, Parker and the others.

[DarkXaero]

Agree. On raw talent, the Nets are bottom 5. But as a coherent team, I think the Nets are better than:

Suns, Grizzlies, Hawks, Mavericks, Magic, Bulls, and arguably the Knicks and Kings.

Don't think we're better than Grizzlies or Mavs. I'd say we'll get more wins than Suns, Hawks, Magic, Bulls, Knicks, and Kings tho.

[DarkXaero]

Kings don't control their own pick this year, so they have no incentive to lose - I'd be surprised to see them land a top-5 pick again. Honestly, outside of Atlanta, projecting the top 5 lotto teams is pretty difficult! Atlanta is the only blatant tanker heading into the season, and some of last year's bad teams (Chicago, Phoenix, Dallas, etc.) are talented enough that you could see them breaking 30 wins this season.

If I had to guess, I'd say it'll go something like
1. Atlanta
2. Orlando
3. Cleveland (expecting them to trade Love)
4. Dallas
5. Brooklyn

On paper, those are some of the worst rosters in the league. Still a possibility that talented teams like Phoenix underperform and get a good pick again.

I have a hard time believing that the Nets are the 5th worst team in the league.

On raw talent/potential alone, I think we are absolutely one of the bottom 5 teams in the NBA. As fans we have pretty rosy evaluations of our players, but it's pretty sobering to see non-homer analysts break down our team. Zach Lowe has been a huge fan of Marks, but last season he called RHJ - our best player right now - an ideal 6th man for a contending team. Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux agreed on a recent podcast that Marks has made all the right moves, but none of our young core players even qualify as above average NBA starters yet. We sorely lack talent - we all know who to thank for that, and his name rhymes with Killy Bing.

Now, raw talent alone doesn't win games, and that's where we probably rise out of the bottom 5. We have an excellent system and coaching staff that can extract more wins than you'd expect from a given roster - my projection of the bottom 5 was mostly based on roster talent. That being said, would it shock me to see us end up 5th worst next year? Absolutely not. Three whole games separated the 5th and 8th spot this year, and I think that the entire bottom tier of teams will be generally improved next season. I think a 28-win season would get us a better pick in 2019 than it did in 2018.

Our talent is still in early development, I don't think its fair to judge them off what they can do on teams right now. I don't think our prospects have super high ceilings like teams with high lotto prospects but that doesn't mean that they don't project to be very good NBA players. RHJ might be our best player but he's still limited by uncertainty in his position and lack of 3pt shooting. I think too many people underrate our talent based on where they were picked in the draft or how they were acquired. Players like RHJ, Levert, Allen would all go in the lottery imo if there was a redraft with hindsight. Russell is our most hyped/known player around the league because he was a high lotto pick for the Lakers, but I wouldn't even put him in our top 3 prospects. There are guys like Dinwiddie and Harris who are solid/good rotation players, possibly good sixth man material. Then we have unknowns like Musa and Kurucs who could bust or surprise in a big way. We lack that one true young star prospect but we have a lot of young talent that is undervalued and I don't think thats me being biased saying that.

[Papi_swav]

Agree. On raw talent, the Nets are bottom 5. But as a coherent team, I think the Nets are better than:

Suns, Grizzlies, Hawks, Mavericks, Magic, Bulls, and arguably the Knicks and Kings.

Better than Grizzlies? They have Gasol and Conley. No way.
Better than Dallas, maybe, because they're in the West, but they add Jordan and Doncic who is a stud.
I don't know about Bulls and Suns. Suns add Ayton, Ariza and Bridges and specially a real coach.
Bulls are very young but talented with Lavine, Markkanen, Carter, Parker and the others.

lol we might very well be bottom 3 team which I am perfectly fine with. The only teams that I'm sure we are better than are Hawks and Magic, but Magic added a stud rookie and their pick from last year was hurt most of the year, they might be better than us too. Suns are definitely better than us and Knicks if KP is healthy. We will be fighting with Kings, Hawks Magic for the 1st I hope. oh and the Cavs .

[MrDollarBills]

I have a hard time believing that the Nets are the 5th worst team in the league.

On raw talent/potential alone, I think we are absolutely one of the bottom 5 teams in the NBA. As fans we have pretty rosy evaluations of our players, but it's pretty sobering to see non-homer analysts break down our team. Zach Lowe has been a huge fan of Marks, but last season he called RHJ - our best player right now - an ideal 6th man for a contending team. Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux agreed on a recent podcast that Marks has made all the right moves, but none of our young core players even qualify as above average NBA starters yet. We sorely lack talent - we all know who to thank for that, and his name rhymes with Killy Bing.

Now, raw talent alone doesn't win games, and that's where we probably rise out of the bottom 5. We have an excellent system and coaching staff that can extract more wins than you'd expect from a given roster - my projection of the bottom 5 was mostly based on roster talent. That being said, would it shock me to see us end up 5th worst next year? Absolutely not. Three whole games separated the 5th and 8th spot this year, and I think that the entire bottom tier of teams will be generally improved next season. I think a 28-win season would get us a better pick in 2019 than it did in 2018.

Our talent is still in early development, I don't think its fair to judge them off what they can do on teams right now. I don't think our prospects have super high ceilings like teams with high lotto prospects but that doesn't mean that they don't project to be very good NBA players. RHJ might be our best player but he's still limited by uncertainty in his position and lack of 3pt shooting. I think too many people underrate our talent based on where they were picked in the draft or how they were acquired. Players like RHJ, Levert, Allen would all go in the lottery imo if there was a redraft with hindsight. Russell is our most hyped/known player around the league because he was a high lotto pick for the Lakers, but I wouldn't even put him in our top 3 prospects. There are guys like Dinwiddie and Harris who are solid/good rotation players, possibly good sixth man material. Then we have unknowns like Musa and Kurucs who could bust or surprise in a big way. We lack that one true young star prospect but we have a lot of young talent that is undervalued and I don't think thats me being biased saying that.

agreed 100%.

[MrDollarBills]

Agree. On raw talent, the Nets are bottom 5. But as a coherent team, I think the Nets are better than:

Suns, Grizzlies, Hawks, Mavericks, Magic, Bulls, and arguably the Knicks and Kings.

Better than Grizzlies? They have Gasol and Conley. No way.
Better than Dallas, maybe, because they're in the West, but they add Jordan and Doncic who is a stud.
I don't know about Bulls and Suns. Suns add Ayton, Ariza and Bridges and specially a real coach.
Bulls are very young but talented with Lavine, Markkanen, Carter, Parker and the others.

lol we might very well be bottom 3 team which I am perfectly fine with. The only teams that I'm sure we are better than are Hawks and Magic, but Magic added a stud rookie and their pick from last year was hurt most of the year, they might be better than us too. Suns are definitely better than us and Knicks if KP is healthy. We will be fighting with Kings, Hawks Magic for the 1st I hope. oh and the Cavs .

I would be stunned if we are a bottom 3 team this year. if we are, something really bad has happened:

-catastrophic injuries

-No improvement from the young players.

I would be shocked if we don't see improvement from the young guys and we play too hard to actually be worse than last year, plus this team has added some pieces that imo makes our roster better overall despite the lack of superstar/all star talent.

[Prokorov]

Better than Grizzlies? They have Gasol and Conley. No way.
Better than Dallas, maybe, because they're in the West, but they add Jordan and Doncic who is a stud.
I don't know about Bulls and Suns. Suns add Ayton, Ariza and Bridges and specially a real coach.
Bulls are very young but talented with Lavine, Markkanen, Carter, Parker and the others.

lol we might very well be bottom 3 team which I am perfectly fine with. The only teams that I'm sure we are better than are Hawks and Magic, but Magic added a stud rookie and their pick from last year was hurt most of the year, they might be better than us too. Suns are definitely better than us and Knicks if KP is healthy. We will be fighting with Kings, Hawks Magic for the 1st I hope. oh and the Cavs .

I would be stunned if we are a bottom 3 team this year. if we are, something really bad has happened:

-catastrophic injuries

-No improvement from the young players.

I would be shocked if we don't see improvement from the young guys and we play too hard to actually be worse than last year, plus this team has added some pieces that imo makes our roster better overall despite the lack of superstar/all star talent.

id be much more surprised if werent top 3.

the hawks and maybe bulls if levin struggles are the only teams i can find with arguably less talent.

[Papi_swav]

lol we might very well be bottom 3 team which I am perfectly fine with. The only teams that I'm sure we are better than are Hawks and Magic, but Magic added a stud rookie and their pick from last year was hurt most of the year, they might be better than us too. Suns are definitely better than us and Knicks if KP is healthy. We will be fighting with Kings, Hawks Magic for the 1st I hope. oh and the Cavs .

I would be stunned if we are a bottom 3 team this year. if we are, something really bad has happened:

-catastrophic injuries

-No improvement from the young players.

I would be shocked if we don't see improvement from the young guys and we play too hard to actually be worse than last year, plus this team has added some pieces that imo makes our roster better overall despite the lack of superstar/all star talent.

id be much more surprised if werent top 3.

the hawks and maybe bulls if levin struggles are the only teams i can find with arguably less talent.

It could go either way, I'm hoping were at least bottom 5 though or Silver can at least look out for us for once in our Nets lifetime. We have to capitalize on the situation tho, if were in a close tight game we should just throw the game, it's not going to matter if we win and we are not making the playoffs so....

[MrDollarBills]

I would be stunned if we are a bottom 3 team this year. if we are, something really bad has happened:

-catastrophic injuries

-No improvement from the young players.

I would be shocked if we don't see improvement from the young guys and we play too hard to actually be worse than last year, plus this team has added some pieces that imo makes our roster better overall despite the lack of superstar/all star talent.

id be much more surprised if werent top 3.

the hawks and maybe bulls if levin struggles are the only teams i can find with arguably less talent.

It could go either way, I'm hoping were at least bottom 5 though or Silver can at least look out for us for once in our Nets lifetime. We have to capitalize on the situation tho, if were in a close tight game we should just throw the game, it's not going to matter if we win and we are not making the playoffs so....

Absolutely not. That is counter productive. If you want to keep the culture of hard work and dedication intact you absolutely do not throw games or make decisions to tank. You will lose the players. I'd prefer if we're going to lose its because a lack of talent and experience as opposed to Marks and Kenny throwing the team to the wolves.

[bud29]

I have a hard time believing that the Nets are the 5th worst team in the league.

On raw talent/potential alone, I think we are absolutely one of the bottom 5 teams in the NBA. As fans we have pretty rosy evaluations of our players, but it's pretty sobering to see non-homer analysts break down our team. Zach Lowe has been a huge fan of Marks, but last season he called RHJ - our best player right now - an ideal 6th man for a contending team. Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux agreed on a recent podcast that Marks has made all the right moves, but none of our young core players even qualify as above average NBA starters yet. We sorely lack talent - we all know who to thank for that, and his name rhymes with Killy Bing.

Now, raw talent alone doesn't win games, and that's where we probably rise out of the bottom 5. We have an excellent system and coaching staff that can extract more wins than you'd expect from a given roster - my projection of the bottom 5 was mostly based on roster talent. That being said, would it shock me to see us end up 5th worst next year? Absolutely not. Three whole games separated the 5th and 8th spot this year, and I think that the entire bottom tier of teams will be generally improved next season. I think a 28-win season would get us a better pick in 2019 than it did in 2018.

Our talent is still in early development, I don't think its fair to judge them off what they can do on teams right now. I don't think our prospects have super high ceilings like teams with high lotto prospects but that doesn't mean that they don't project to be very good NBA players. RHJ might be our best player but he's still limited by uncertainty in his position and lack of 3pt shooting. I think too many people underrate our talent based on where they were picked in the draft or how they were acquired. Players like RHJ, Levert, Allen would all go in the lottery imo if there was a redraft with hindsight. Russell is our most hyped/known player around the league because he was a high lotto pick for the Lakers, but I wouldn't even put him in our top 3 prospects. There are guys like Dinwiddie and Harris who are solid/good rotation players, possibly good sixth man material. Then we have unknowns like Musa and Kurucs who could bust or surprise in a big way. We lack that one true young star prospect but we have a lot of young talent that is undervalued and I don't think thats me being biased saying that.

Oh I don't disagree with you, especially since our coaching staff has already shown great development skills with guys like Dinwiddie and Harris. I was mostly talking about our outlook for the '18-'19 season - since most of our players are in the development stage and we lack star power as you mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised to see us end up with one of the bottom 5 records in the league. Long-term, I absolutely agree that some of our players may outperform expectations (and they need to if we're going to compete any time soon).

[Papi_swav]

id be much more surprised if werent top 3.

the hawks and maybe bulls if levin struggles are the only teams i can find with arguably less talent.

It could go either way, I'm hoping were at least bottom 5 though or Silver can at least look out for us for once in our Nets lifetime. We have to capitalize on the situation tho, if were in a close tight game we should just throw the game, it's not going to matter if we win and we are not making the playoffs so....

Absolutely not. That is counter productive. If you want to keep the culture of hard work and dedication intact you absolutely do not throw games or make decisions to tank. You will lose the players. I'd prefer if we're going to lose its because a lack of talent and experience as opposed to Marks and Kenny throwing the team to the wolves.

Well half the team won't be here next year anyways. We are just not that talented, we will put up a fight and give effort but I think it's more of lack of talent for us. It will only benefit us if we tank just this one year. We NEED a top pick, period. It will only benefit us because this might be our one and only time to get a top pick because I expect us to be a lot better the years after.

[MrDollarBills]

Barely a day after Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson went on Chicago radio station 670 The Score to say the team’s newly acquired players, Jabari Parker and Zach LaVine, should learn to play better defense, Parker went on that same radio station with a slightly different message: “Well, I don’t know.”

The Chicago native was asked whether or not he thought he could be a good defender.

“I just stick to my strengths,” Parker said. “Look at everybody in the league — they don’t pay players to play defense.

https://nypost.com/2018/07/19/newest-bull-shuts-down-teams-request-not-paid-to-play-defense/

Still think that the Nets should have gone after this guy?

[steady]

I would not give too much credence to this but still this computer simultation provides interesting way to look back on impact of this offseason

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-win-total-odds-how-every-teams-2018-19-projections-have-changed-since-the-end-of-last-season/

[MrDollarBills]

I would not give too much credence to this but still this computer simultation provides interesting way to look back on impact of this offseason

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-win-total-odds-how-every-teams-2018-19-projections-have-changed-since-the-end-of-last-season/

If we end up 10th in the East that will be a successful season for us. Even better if Denver just barely misses the playoffs.

[jbeachboy]

nets are still really young although they have enough talent too compete. id really like to see changes made so we can make that 8th spot in east at least for free agency

[vincecarter4pres]

Kevin Love...

Watch on YouTube

[MrDollarBills]

I was kind of shocked by that contract. If you're the Cavs you're in for a long rebuild why commit all that money?

Love gets to be a #1 option again, I wonder how his body will hold up after the last few years of standing in a corner watching lebron pound the ball until it went flat

[vincecarter4pres]

I was kind of shocked by that contract. If you're the Cavs you're in for a long rebuild why commit all that money?

Love gets to be a #1 option again, I wonder how his body will hold up after the last few years of standing in a corner watching lebron pound the ball until it went flat

Idk, but he's gonna be a hella value pick in fantasy drafts if he doesn't go too high.

[vincecarter4pres]

lol we might very well be bottom 3 team which I am perfectly fine with. The only teams that I'm sure we are better than are Hawks and Magic, but Magic added a stud rookie and their pick from last year was hurt most of the year, they might be better than us too. Suns are definitely better than us and Knicks if KP is healthy. We will be fighting with Kings, Hawks Magic for the 1st I hope. oh and the Cavs .

I would be stunned if we are a bottom 3 team this year. if we are, something really bad has happened:

-catastrophic injuries

-No improvement from the young players.

I would be shocked if we don't see improvement from the young guys and we play too hard to actually be worse than last year, plus this team has added some pieces that imo makes our roster better overall despite the lack of superstar/all star talent.

id be much more surprised if werent top 3.

the hawks and maybe bulls if levin struggles are the only teams i can find with arguably less talent.

Idk, still think 5th to 8th worst record is likely, even including a big chunk of games missed to injury to a couple significant guys.

Atlanta, Orlando, Sacto and sadly the Knix are very likely to be worse than us record wise imho. I think this is a year where the team with the 5th worst record could have 30 wins though, meaning even if we have a relatively successful year development wise, with a 2 or 3 game improvement in the W/L column, we could easily still have the 5th or 6xth worse record. Prime spot to get lucky and make a top 3 jump.

I'll say this though, this will be a year I watch a lot of college basketball again and try and catch tape on the top couple international guys whenever it's out there.