Around the NBA, 2018-19 Season thread

shakendfries · Post #481 » by **shakendfries** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:53 am

gigantes wrote:I'm getting a little neurotic about the East semis...

1) Which team has the potential to be playing their absolute best in the finals? Seems like that's down to the Celts or Raps at this point.

2) Which team matches up best against the Dubs? So many ways to analyse that, but you have to think experience plays a significant role, with the Celts arguably having the biggest edge. But their depth across all positions and switchability also look like a big plus, with the Bucks and Raps close behind.

3) I'd love to see an awesome guy like Giannis bring his team to the finals, but if it leads to the stinking Dubs winning another finals... ugh. What a miserable three years it will have been in NBA history, even dampening some of the joie de vivre of the coming season.

Watching the Warriors rise at the expense of Lebron has been the most glorious thing to happen to the NBA. KD gave Lebron a taste of his own medicine in weakening the competition in his own conference to his benefit.

gigantes · Post #482 » by **gigantes** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:51 am

shakendfries wrote:Watching the Warriors rise at the expense of Lebron has been the most glorious thing to happen to the NBA. KD gave Lebron a taste of his own medicine in weakening the competition in his own conference to his benefit.

The Warriors rose on their own, years before Durant interjected himself. That's part of why I see very little real connection with LeBron's situation, which I commented on in some detail on the prior page or two. Take a look if you care to.

Regardless, to me the situation's not about any two players, anyway. Three years of parity being ruined is not sufficient reward for whatever drama you might have in mind. That smells more like an unhealthy obsession with LeBron to me.

It's not just that, either-- it's that the Dubs as constructed were a fascinating, amazing team with enough weaknesses to make things really interesting against The Cavs or whoever they might have played in the West to get to the big dance... such as the Thunder. That's a huge loss for basketball fans everywhere as I see it.

shakendfries · Post #483 » by **shakendfries** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:02 am

gigantes wrote:
shakendfries wrote:Watching the Warriors rise at the expense of Lebron has been the most glorious thing to happen to the NBA. KD gave Lebron a taste of his own medicine in weakening the competition in his own conference to his benefit.

The Warriors rose on their own, years before Durant interjected himself. That's part of why I see very little real connection with LeBron's situation, which I commented on in some detail on the prior page or two. Take a look if you care to.

Regardless, to me the situation's not about any two players, anyway. Three years of parity being ruined is not sufficient reward for whatever drama you might have in mind. That smells more like an unhealthy obsession with LeBron to me.

It's not just that, either-- it's that the Dubs as constructed were a fascinating, amazing team with enough weaknesses to make things really interesting against The Cavs or whoever they might have played in the West to get to the big dance... such as the Thunder. That's a huge loss for basketball fans everywhere as I see it.

Are you kidding me? This season has proven the NBA has elevated its competition in response to the Warriors. Boogie going down adds to intrigue. The Raps are legit, the Nuggets have a legit big man, the Bucks have enough sharpshooters of their own to match, James Harden has took a team that didn't look like it was making the playoffs and had an MVP year averaging the most points in league history, and while the Warriors are great the threats to the title have never been greater.

gigantes · Post #484 » by **gigantes** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:35 am

shakendfries wrote:
gigantes wrote:
shakendfries wrote:Watching the Warriors rise at the expense of Lebron has been the most glorious thing to happen to the NBA. KD gave Lebron a taste of his own medicine in weakening the competition in his own conference to his benefit.

The Warriors rose on their own, years before Durant interjected himself. That's part of why I see very little real connection with LeBron's situation, which I commented on in some detail on the prior page or two. Take a look if you care to.

Regardless, to me the situation's not about any two players, anyway. Three years of parity being ruined is not sufficient reward for whatever drama you might have in mind. That smells more like an unhealthy obsession with LeBron to me.

It's not just that, either-- it's that the Dubs as constructed were a fascinating, amazing team with enough weaknesses to make things really interesting against The Cavs or whoever they might have played in the West to get to the big dance... such as the Thunder. That's a huge loss for basketball fans everywhere as I see it.

Are you kidding me? This season has proven the NBA has elevated its competition in response to the Warriors. Boogie going down adds to intrigue. The Raps are legit, the Nuggets have a legit big man, the Bucks have enough sharpshooters of their own to match, James Harden has took a team that didn't look like it was making the playoffs and had an MVP year averaging the most points in league history, and while the Warriors are great the threats to the title have never been greater.

Am I kidding you about what, exactly...?

Did you read any of what I said above, or my previous post on the matter?

Parity has been royally f-cked the last few years, and we're still left hoping that one of these other teams can come along and dethrone the bullies. Same old story, same old song.

The Dubs have had some close calls along the way, but still only lost a single series the past five years. The current team still has arguably the greatest starting lineup in NBA history.

Maybe-probably this is the last year of their dynasty, and that's all we know for sure at this point.

MrDollarBills · Post #485 » by **MrDollarBills** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 1:46 pm

Parity is something that really never existed in the NBA.

Post #486 » by **NyCeEvO** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:30 pm

MrDollarBills wrote:Parity is something that really never existed in the NBA.

I don’t think anyone really cares about true parity. They just don’t want a league where there are only 1 or 2 teams that are true contenders.

The league can be very healthy with 4 true contenders and another 2-4 really good playoff teams. The other teams can be tanking/rebuilding, building a team that can get into the playoffs, and building a team that can get into the 2nd round of the playoffs. You’ll also have a number of teams who aspire to achieve one of these goals but simply fail to do so due to injuries, team turmoil, or failure to improve. These are all compelling storylines that would keep fans interested.

Papi_swav · Post #487 » by **Papi_swav** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:05 pm

I wish we had parity, it will make the NBA that much better. But yea I'm good with 4 true contenders at least. I just hate that I already know who's going to win the chip before the season starts, it takes the fun out of the game and makes me not want to watch other teams as much as I used to. Just have to hope KD and Klay goes somewhere else. There's enough stars to go around or close to for almost every team to have 2 stars.

MGrand15 · Post #488 » by **MGrand15** » Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:48 pm

I don't really care about true parity but the gap between the Warriors and the rest of the league is way too large. Teams have gotten closer but not really. 2 MVPs + 2x All NBA Guard + DPOY. The Rockets have exactly 1 of those. Slight exaggeration but you could combine the entire Eastern conference and barely match those accolades.

I still watch a ton of NBA but I really don't care about anything the Warriors do. It's just not impressive to me. There's no decent strategy against an all star team. They have no weaknesses defensively. The 73 win Warriors weren't close to this.

Prokorov · Post #489 » by **Prokorov** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 1:24 pm

MGrand15 wrote:I don't really care about true parity but the gap between the Warriors and the rest of the league is way too large. Teams have gotten closer but not really. 2 MVPs + 2x All NBA Guard + DPOY. The Rockets have exactly 1 of those. Slight exaggeration but you could combine the entire Eastern conference and barely match those accolades.

I still watch a ton of NBA but I really don't care about anything the Warriors do. It's just not impressive to me. There's no decent strategy against an all star team. They have no weaknesses defensively. The 73 win Warriors weren't close to this.

yea, its said to because the pre-durant warriors were so likeable, built the right way, and their offense and teamwork was poetry.

now its like half the time durant just coming up and abusing someeone one on one cause no one can leavue curry or thompson.

DarkXaero · Post #490 » by **DarkXaero** » Fri May 3, 2019 2:25 am

Sixers looking terrific right now against the Raps. Their defense giving everyone on the Raps except Kawhi a lot of trouble.

Hello Brooklyn · Post #491 » by **Hello Brooklyn** » Fri May 3, 2019 2:54 am

I told you guys the Sixers were amazing and would beat the Raptors.

No shame in losing to them at all. Their talent level is unreal.

MGrand15 · Post #492 » by **MGrand15** » Fri May 3, 2019 3:53 am

Lowry really helping us out in the Kawhi sweepstakes. All that sweet regular season karma is about to go out the window :lol:

Read on Twitter

MrDollarBills · Post #493 » by **MrDollarBills** » Fri May 3, 2019 4:22 am

Hello Brooklyn wrote:I told you guys the Sixers were amazing and would beat the Raptors.

No shame in losing to them at all. Their talent level is unreal.

The Sixers gave them a good beating. I don't feel even remotely bad about how things went down at all for the Nets.

MrDollarBills · Post #494 » by **MrDollarBills** » Fri May 3, 2019 4:23 am

MGrand15 wrote:Lowry really helping us out in the Kawhi sweepstakes. All that sweet regular season karma is about to go out the window

Read on Twitter

I remember Raptors fans were talking big time **** about how Siakam was a good #1 option when Leonard was not in the line up :lol:

!!!!!!

Papi_swav · Post #495 » by **Papi_swav** » Fri May 3, 2019 4:58 am

MrDollarBills wrote:
Hello Brooklyn wrote:I told you guys the Sixers were amazing and would beat the Raptors.

No shame in losing to them at all. Their talent level is unreal.

The Sixers gave them a good beating. I don't feel even remotely bad about how things went down at all for the Nets.

Sixers are just too big and strong, I wonder why Ibaka is only getting 15 mins a game here. The quicker the Raps lose the faster Kawhi leaves. Sixers in 6 . Sixers vs Bucks will be a great ECF

JoseRizal · Post #496 » by **JoseRizal** » Fri May 3, 2019 7:58 am

MrDollarBills wrote:
Hello Brooklyn wrote:I told you guys the Sixers were amazing and would beat the Raptors.

No shame in losing to them at all. Their talent level is unreal.

The Sixers gave them a good beating. I don't feel even remotely bad about how things went down at all for the Nets.

Same here. Winning at least a game actually made us look pretty good. A superstar away from being taken seriously.

JoseRizal · Post #497 » by **JoseRizal** » Fri May 3, 2019 7:59 am

MrDollarBills wrote:
MGrand15 wrote:Lowry really helping us out in the Kawhi sweepstakes. All that sweet regular season karma is about to go out the window

Read on Twitter

I remember Raptors fans were talking big time **** about how Siakam was a good #1 option when Leonard was not in the line up !!!!!!

Now they’re in for a rude awakening that Siakam is a product of the Kawhi factor

SpeedyG · Post #498 » by **SpeedyG** » Fri May 3, 2019 10:26 am

MrDollarBills wrote:
MGrand15 wrote:Lowry really helping us out in the Kawhi sweepstakes. All that sweet regular season karma is about to go out the window

Read on Twitter

I remember Raptors fans were talking big time **** about how Siakam was a good #1 option when Leonard was not in the line up !!!!!!

I get he's not Kawhi, but if you're going to blast Siakam about his playoffs performance, be prepared to get Russell's crappy showing thrown right back at you 10x over.

The difference between Siakam's playoffs vs Russell's playoffs isn't close.

Sent from my SM-G925T using RealGM mobile app

MrDollarBills · Post #499 » by **MrDollarBills** » Fri May 3, 2019 1:09 pm

SpeedyG wrote:
MrDollarBills wrote:
MGrand15 wrote:Lowry really helping us out in the Kawhi sweepstakes. All that sweet regular season karma is about to go out the window

Read on Twitter

I remember Raptors fans were talking big time **** about how Siakam was a good #1 option when Leonard was not in the line up !!!!!!
I get he's not Kawhi, but if you're going to blast Siakam about his playoffs performance, be prepared to get Russell's crappy showing thrown right back at you 10x over.

The difference between Siakam's playoffs vs Russell's playoffs isn't close.

Sent from my SM-G925T using RealGM mobile app

What does Russell's playoff performance have to do with the myth that Pascal Siakam would be just fine as the Raptors #1 with Leonard not there being busted have to do with each other? If that's all that they have to fall back on, then that doesn't really help to disprove my point.

I'm not knocking Siakam as a player but dudes on the GB were literally trying to tell me that he was a legit #1 w/o Leonard. Anyone could see that while he's an excellent PF, he is not a #1 type talent.

MGrand15 · Post #500 » by **MGrand15** » Fri May 3, 2019 2:23 pm

SpeedyG wrote:
MrDollarBills wrote:
MGrand15 wrote:Lowry really helping us out in the Kawhi sweepstakes. All that sweet regular season karma is about to go out the window

Read on Twitter

I remember Raptors fans were talking big time **** about how Siakam was a good #1 option when Leonard was not in the line up !!!!!!
I get he's not Kawhi, but if you're going to blast Siakam about his playoffs performance, be prepared to get Russell's crappy showing thrown right back at you 10x over.

The difference between Siakam's playoffs vs Russell's playoffs isn't close.

Sent from my SM-G925T using RealGM mobile app

Russell was Philly's main focus. Siakam is 3rd on their list.

I love Siakam but those non-Kawhi minutes are directly on him and Lowry. Those offensive rating numbers aren't even basketball numbers. Those numbers are so bad they make zero sense.