The Around The NBA Thread

[CobyWhite0]

And nothing says "meaningless regular season wins" like beating a team 3 times out of 3 during the regular season and losing 3 of 4 to that same team to start the playoffs.

[HomoSapien]

Here's some fun old-school highlights I'd never seen from the 93-94 season. No Jordan (obviously), Pippen, Jackson, or Paxson this game. Bulls had to run a lineup with Horace Grant at the three.

Watch on YouTube

[HomoSapien]

And nothing says "meaningless regular season wins" like beating a team 3 times out of 3 during the regular season and losing 3 of 4 to that same team to start the playoffs.

For a franchise that's been a complete joke for what feels like forever, the meaning of getting back to the playoffs shouldn't be discounted.

[kodo]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

[johnnyvann840]

Once again Thibbs is getting out coached in the playoffs. The most overrated coach of all time

'
Oh brother... not this crap again. FFS, nobody got "outcoached"... freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it. That is not on the coach. He got them to a 4th seed when they weren't even expected to be a .500 team. How in the flying F is that on Thibs? Jesus Christ, some people.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401327883

Completely false.

Randle & Barrett combined to shoot 15/34 from the field. 44.1%
The Hawks shot 43.9% from the field.

Randle & Barrett combined to shoot 4/10 3's. 40%
The Hawks shot 38.5% from behind the arc.

Sorry these damn facts get in the way of your narrative of why the Knicks got blown out today. Because of all the possible reasons why they got blown out, it's 100% certain that "freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it" ISN'T a reason. Obviously.

Lame excuses, however, are something I'm used to reading in the Lauri thread.

Look at the series stats!! Not because they made a few shots today when the game was already out of hand. My God. Watch the freaking games before you post garbage. Did you not see all the missed layups? Jesus.

Randle was shooting under 25% for the series coming into the game today. Barrett was not much better. They simply have not shown up for this series and anybody who knows their ass from a hole in the ground will tell you the same thing.

[HomoSapien]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

A lot of these posts are just downright odd to me (not yours specifically). If a year ago, I said you need to get to the playoffs with Julius Randle and Derrick Rose as your leading guys everyone would have agreed that it was impossible. Thibs got that team to the 4th seed. People talking about how he's overrated is so absurd to me. The narrative honestly should be whether or not he's a COY candidate, because this team has no business being in the playoffs to begin with.

One thing that's clear to me is that there's a ton of insecurity on this board. People are really trying to spin this coaching performance into some sort of failure because they are so fearful of admitting that the Bulls haven't been able to find a better coach than him. These arguments are so flimsy and transparent.

[DASMACKDOWN]

You make a good point about Thibs' teams not kicking it up in the playoffs. Other than Old Man Rose playing his heart out, the Knicks look atrocious. I'm surprised it's only a 14 point game with the 3rd quarter about to wrap up. It feels more like 30 to me.

I dont think its about Thibs not kicking it up in the playoffs. He basically has the team maxed out all season. We never had another had another gear either. But we already had elite talent on the roster in Rose so it didnt matter much. But once we also played another elite team, our flawed just got exposed.

In the current Knicks situation, everyone knows they dont have scorers other than Randle and Rose. And Randle has absolutely sucked this series.

[johnnyvann840]

Once again Thibbs is getting out coached in the playoffs. The most overrated coach of all time

'
Oh brother... not this crap again. FFS, nobody got "outcoached"... freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it. That is not on the coach. He got them to a 4th seed when they weren't even expected to be a .500 team. How in the flying F is that on Thibs? Jesus Christ, some people.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401327883

Completely false.

Randle & Barrett combined to shoot 15/34 from the field. 44.1%
The Hawks shot 43.9% from the field.

Randle & Barrett combined to shoot 4/10 3's. 40%
The Hawks shot 38.5% from behind the arc.

Sorry these damn facts get in the way of your narrative of why the Knicks got blown out today. Because of all the possible reasons why they got blown out, it's 100% certain that "freaking Randle and RJ couldn't make a damn shot if their life depended on it" ISN'T a reason. Obviously.

Lame excuses, however, are something I'm used to reading in the Lauri thread.

LOL.. lame excuses? You want FACTS, son? Randle went 7-19 today and was shooting 24.1% from the field in the series prior. but don't let the facts get in the way, son. Barrett went 2-6 from 3. Randle is now 20-73 from the field in this series.. Barrett went 6-15, 5-14 and 2-9 in the series coming into today's game. Today he went a respectable 8-15 but 2-6 from 3 and he missed some bunnies. Randle missed about 5 layups. Neither of them have shown up for this series and that had been the opinion of every single analyst that has commented on it.... oh, except for some kid who calls himself CobyWhite0 on RealGM and seems to think he knows a lot more about basketball then ex pro's and professional analysts who do this for a living.

[johnnyvann840]

And nothing says "meaningless regular season wins" like beating a team 3 times out of 3 during the regular season and losing 3 of 4 to that same team to start the playoffs.

Well, isn't the truth that it's really all meaningless except for the team that wins it's last game and gets hoist the O'Brien?

So,for Knicks fans it wasn't meaningless at all. Like I said, they got to watch an exciting team all season and their time spent watching games was enjoyable. All those hours and hours and all the wins and all the comebacks was time well spent for them. What's meaningless is a team that underachieved all season and frustrated the hell out of the majority of their fan base and didn't even make the playoffs and doesn't even have a draft pick unless they get very lucky in the lottery.

[CobyWhite0]

And nothing says "meaningless regular season wins" like beating a team 3 times out of 3 during the regular season and losing 3 of 4 to that same team to start the playoffs.

For a franchise that's been a complete joke for what feels like forever, the meaning of getting back to the playoffs shouldn't be discounted.

No doubt, if I were a Knicks fan, I'd be absolutely thrilled just to be back in the playoffs. After 6 consecutive seasons of sub-.400 basketball, they hired the perfect coach to maximize regular season wins.

And of course regular season wins are important to the extent that you need them to make the playoffs. But even though I predicted that the one chance the Knicks had to win a series was if they drew ATL in the first round (because they swept them in the regular season), apparently their regular season was somewhat of a fluke.

And even though the Hawks' 3 leading scorers had ZERO playoff experience coming in, and their coach was just fired by the Pacers because his team got swept in the first round 3 of his 4 seasons - here we are.

I wonder how many of the Knicks' wins were "real" wins (which, using the Bulls fan definition, is a win where the other team is at full strength and not coming off a back-to-back)?

SI.com - 7 of 10 picked the Knicks to win the series https://www.si.com/nba/2021/05/22/nba-playoffs-first-round-predictions-picks

ESPN.com - 15 of 18 picked the Knicks to win the series https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31463086/nba-playoffs-2021-experts-predictions-round-1

Hell, even KC Johnson picked the Knicks to win lol https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/nba-playoffs-2021-first-round-series-predictions

[CobyWhite0]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

Outstanding post, you couldn't possibly be more accurate in your assessment.

A Thibs defense can be tough to handle in the regular season, when it's 1/72nd of a long season. But get them in the playoffs, where you have time to prepare for and adjust to Thibs' schemes, and it's a much easier ball game.

[Am2626]

You make a good point about Thibs' teams not kicking it up in the playoffs. Other than Old Man Rose playing his heart out, the Knicks look atrocious. I'm surprised it's only a 14 point game with the 3rd quarter about to wrap up. It feels more like 30 to me.

I dont think its about Thibs not kicking it up in the playoffs. He basically has the team maxed out all season. We never had another had another gear either. But we already had elite talent on the roster in Rose so it didnt matter much. But once we also played another elite team, our flawed just got exposed.

In the current Knicks situation, everyone knows they dont have scorers other than Randle and Rose. And Randle has absolutely sucked this series.

Thibs has taken this Knicks team as far as he can. He has never had the privilege of coaching a team with an elite roster so the criticism of him losing in the playoffs is not warranted in my opinion.

[MrSparkle]

Knicks don't have enough high-skill 3P shooters to win this playoff series. Quigley is a rookie riding the bench. They lack the fire-power to hang with ATL's multiple high-volume shooters. It's largely been more about a young Hawks team underachieving than the Knicks being a sham squad. It's basically the 13/14 Bulls; not sure what Thibs can do. They're playing a way more talented team. Barrett and Randle need to develop their shots further.

[kulaz3000]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

Outstanding post, you couldn't possibly be more accurate in your assessment.

A Thibs defense can be tough to handle in the regular season, when it's 1/72nd of a long season. But get them in the playoffs, where you have time to prepare for and adjust to Thibs' schemes, and it's a much easier ball game.

I don't think I'd entirely agree. To some degree, sure, but the bottom line is, the Hawks have more talent up and down their roster, and in the playoffs no matter how much you've overachieved with lesser players, the team with more talent is usually going to win out, ESPECIALLY when you have a capable coach, with the added benefit of scouting extensively.

You give Thib's more talent and a deeper roster, it's an entirely different ball game. Just the simple fact that Derrick Rose has been the best player on the roster tells you where the talent level of the Knicks team is at. And that's no knock of Derrick Rose.

[MAQ]

Is that Clorox logo actually on the court in Boston? Over the years, broadcasts began overlaying their own advertisements logos on to the picture feed and would appear on the court however those were obviously overlays as players jerseys or shoes would end up having the ad on them if they stood in the spot.

But that Clorox logo isnt so obvious. The shoes are standing on top of the logo. I think it's actually on the floor.

[MrSparkle]

This Eastern 1st round is such a snooze fest (like every other one since the 90s ended).

[Am2626]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

Outstanding post, you couldn't possibly be more accurate in your assessment.

A Thibs defense can be tough to handle in the regular season, when it's 1/72nd of a long season. But get them in the playoffs, where you have time to prepare for and adjust to Thibs' schemes, and it's a much easier ball game.

Do you realize how bad this Knicks team was last year? They had almost the same roster minus Rose. The fact that Thibs has gotten the Knicks this far is impressive in itself. If he is the coach of the Bucks they probably win a championship this year.

When has a Thibs coached team underachieved? Give him a championship level roster and let’s see if his team still loses playoff games.

[Am2626]

You make a good point about Thibs' teams not kicking it up in the playoffs. Other than Old Man Rose playing his heart out, the Knicks look atrocious. I'm surprised it's only a 14 point game with the 3rd quarter about to wrap up. It feels more like 30 to me.

I dont think its about Thibs not kicking it up in the playoffs. He basically has the team maxed out all season. We never had another had another gear either. But we already had elite talent on the roster in Rose so it didnt matter much. But once we also played another elite team, our flawed just got exposed.

In the current Knicks situation, everyone knows they dont have scorers other than Randle and Rose. And Randle has absolutely sucked this series.

Thibs had Rose as an elite player for 2 years. In his first year with the Bulls he took them to the Eastern Conference Finals so that team didn’t exactly flame out in the playoffs. In fact they overacheived as no one saw that team being as good as they were that year. The next year Rose tears his ACL in the first game of the playoffs. After that Rose was no longer an elite player. Don’t see how Thibs had elite talent to work with on his teams.

[CobyWhite0]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

A lot of these posts are just downright odd to me (not yours specifically). If a year ago, I said you need to get to the playoffs with Julius Randle and Derrick Rose as your leading guys everyone would have agreed that it was impossible. Thibs got that team to the 4th seed. People talking about how he's overrated is so absurd to me. The narrative honestly should be whether or not he's a COY candidate, because this team has no business being in the playoffs to begin with.

One thing that's clear to me is that there's a ton of insecurity on this board. People are really trying to spin this coaching performance into some sort of failure because they are so fearful of admitting that the Bulls haven't been able to find a better coach than him. These arguments are so flimsy and transparent.

Everyone I've seen post here today has given Thibs full credit for the regular season. He's certainly a COY candidate, I'm not sure anyone deserves it more. So I really don't know who you're referring to here.

I'm quite sure we have a better coach right now.

Go back a year, and replace the Knicks with the Thunder, and you have a team that was picked to finish:

13th in the West (ESPN)
11th in the West (Bleacher Report)
12th in the West (Basketball-Reference)
11th in the West (TeamRankings.com)
12th in the West (Sporting News)

For anyone who has forgotten, they finished 5th. And they took the 4 seed to 7 games, they didn't go down 3-1 to a team they swept in the regular season.

And BD did it with no All-Stars, unlike Thibs this season.

And just FTR, BD has a better career playoff winning percentage than Thibs.

So far today, I have yet to read one criticism of Thibs that isn't true. Maybe you can give me a specific inaccurate criticism, I'd appreciate it because I haven't seen any.

[Am2626]

If anyone at NYK was expecting anything other than big regular season success and playoff struggles with Thibs I have no idea what they were thinking hiring him. He's been coaching so long and you know exactly what you're getting, and he's delivered on everything. If anyone was expecting new tricks from a 63 year old coach, they shouldn't be making hiring decisions.

I'm going to assume NY is happy with what they bought. Thibs is one of the best coaches in the league to get you a playoff appearance.

A lot of these posts are just downright odd to me (not yours specifically). If a year ago, I said you need to get to the playoffs with Julius Randle and Derrick Rose as your leading guys everyone would have agreed that it was impossible. Thibs got that team to the 4th seed. People talking about how he's overrated is so absurd to me. The narrative honestly should be whether or not he's a COY candidate, because this team has no business being in the playoffs to begin with.

One thing that's clear to me is that there's a ton of insecurity on this board. People are really trying to spin this coaching performance into some sort of failure because they are so fearful of admitting that the Bulls haven't been able to find a better coach than him. These arguments are so flimsy and transparent.

Everyone I've seen post here today has given Thibs full credit for the regular season. He's certainly a COY candidate, I'm not sure anyone deserves it more. So I really don't know who you're referring to here.

I'm quite sure we have a better coach right now.

Go back a year, and replace the Knicks with the Thunder, and you have a team that was picked to finish:

13th in the West (ESPN)
11th in the West (Bleacher Report)
12th in the West (Basketball-Reference)
11th in the West (TeamRankings.com)
12th in the West (Sporting News)

For anyone who has forgotten, they finished 5th. And BD did it with no All-Stars, unlike Thibs this season.

And just FTR, BD has a better career playoff winning percentage than Thibs.

So far today, I have yet to read one criticism of Thibs that isn't true. Maybe you can give me a specific inaccurate criticism, I'd appreciate it because I haven't seen any.

BD has also had the privilege of coaching Durant, Paul George, Westbrook, SGA, and CP3. He’s had way more talent to work with than Thibs ever has had.