The 2016-2017 NBA basketball thread

[MtlJeff]

The thing that's important to remember is that the Warriors had an off night against the Spurs, who happen to be a really, really good team. They will slaughter 25 out of 30 teams with their B game. So i was only slightly kidding about them going 81-1 this year

 

What will be interesting to monitor is how teams approach them, one thought is that teams may give up trying to match up with them and instead just go really big and try to pound them on the glass. This was pitched on "the ringer" during the offseason in hypotheticals, where one writer just said "play five 7 footers and hope for the best" LOL. Not many teams have the guys to do this, but the Spurs are one. The Cavs can unleash the terror known as Tristan Thompson as they have the past couple of years

 

Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green i think took pride in their thumping around bigger guys. In this year's "lineup of death" , should they go that way. Does Kevin Durant really want to pound on the glass relentlessly against guys like Blake Griffin, Aldridge, Thompson? It will be interesting to watch. Zaza fell apart for the Mavs last season down the stretch. If he struggles, they are a pretty small team

 

Of course, you have to stop them on the other end.....which is why this question is only relevant against teams like the Spurs and Cavs.

 

I'm interested in watching Klay Thompson too, because i imagine his numbers will go down significantly, and what effect that may have

[MtlJeff]

In my never ending desire to make the Cavs better through Kevin Love trades....How about Love for Enes Kanter, Andre Roberson and Alex Abrines?

 

OKC would reunite Love with Westbrook, and could hide him next to Adams defensively

 

Cleveland would be devastating on the offensive boards (Thompson and Kanter!!!!!) without losing spacing , and would add a perimeter defensive terror in Roberson and a young shooter with upside in Abrines.

 

Isn't that Cavs team more of a threat to the Warriors?

[F171615]

 

 

 

I'm interested in watching Klay Thompson too, because i imagine his numbers will go down significantly, and what effect that may have

 

I imagine his numbers may go down, but more so b/c he had a career year last season. KD joining the Warriors doesn’t affect Klay's offensive game, except shots will be even more open for him than before. Klay isn't a ball handler, he runs off the ball so he can catch and shoot; and with KD, he'll still do the exact same thing, except it'll be a weaker defender covering him (the best perimeter defenders for the opponent will have to cover Steph and KD), and other defenders will not be able to help as much off KD as they were anyone else on the team before.

[scratchswinger]

In my never ending desire to make the Cavs better through Kevin Love trades....How about Love for Enes Kanter, Andre Roberson and Alex Abrines?

 

OKC would reunite Love with Westbrook, and could hide him next to Adams defensively

 

Cleveland would be devastating on the offensive boards (Thompson and Kanter!!!!!) without losing spacing , and would add a perimeter defensive terror in Roberson and a young shooter with upside in Abrines.

 

Isn't that Cavs team more of a threat to the Warriors?

 

Lol they just won the title and he has a key piece. Unless they go on a 10 game losing streak I don't think Love would be moved during the season. And you want to trade Love because of his lack of D and the best player your getting back is a worst defender? That's a tough one to wrap my head around..... Regarfing Roberson but does Clevelenad need another wing player? I love you Jeff but C'mon man!

[MtlJeff]

The turning point in the finals was when they gave Jefferson more of love's minutes. Love played 20 minutes a game the last 3-4 games, hardly a chump but for 22m that's not great production. I think Kanter gives them better offensive rebounding and is no worse a defender. Maybe a bit worse though

 

I think they won the title thanks mostly to Irving and lebron

[MtlJeff]

i suppose they could do better than that deal though....I just think Love is marginalized when he's not anchoring an offense

[scratchswinger]

Mozgov and Lou Williams for Love.

[MtlJeff]

I'm really hoping Westbrook and Anthony Davis stay healthy this year. The combination of little scoring support , plus their ridiculous talent to do things all over the court, could lead to some extreme outlier type games over the course of an 82 game season. So i hope they stay healthy if only to see what is possible

 

Westbrook's FIRST TWO GAMES were 32-12-9 and 51-13-10.....his usage rate in the second game was approximately 250

 

Anthony Davis FIRST TWO GAMES were 50-15-5-4-5 and 45-17.....seriously go look at his ESPN profile, he's averaging 48-16-3 with a PER of 43 ....LOL

 

So what type of games could they have? I mean could Westbrook have a 25-20-20 game? Could Davis do like 45-20 with 10 blocks?

[MtlJeff]

Charlotte is a very fun team to watch, on the surface they have no real superstars and don't have a ton of shooting but they do a lot of fun things and are very well coached. You look at their roster and wonder why they are good , but they are in every game

 

Walker and Batum both essentially play point guard, they run a lot of screens with Batum as the PG, and he can dribble and is tall enough to see over defenses. They get good things out of this. Their frontcourt guys like Williams and Kaminsky aren't stars but they can handle the ball and shoot. The ball moves well with the Hornets

 

Walker, Kidd Gilchrist and Batum all defend well. MKG is a terror, and one of the real threats to win DPOY over Leonard

[gambit]

Westbrook off to a historic start. The numbers he puts up for a triple double are absurd. If the dubs don't start playing better, Thursday could be a long night for them.

[MtlJeff]

I like watching Doug McDermott, when he came out there was some wondering if he would bulk up and become a more traditional stretch 4, or if he would lose weight and play on the perimeter. Many thought his best shot was as a 4, including me

 

But he's slimmed down, and gotten faster on the perimeter. And he works hard on defense and runs off a lot of screens on offense.

 

People might forget that it took a long time for JJ Redick to become the player he is. He very much struggled early on, and was seen as a bust for a few years.

 

I'm hoping to see McDermott do well. He wasn't a super athlete, but a smart player and hard worker. Nice to see them do well. He had 23 the other night

[gambit]

Nobody's talking about Derozan. That boy is balling hard!

[MtlJeff]

The Raptors are a fun team, good and they know who they are. They are capable of being a bit like the 2014-2015 Hawks in the sense that when you've played together a while, know your limits, have solid star caliber players and play to a high floor, you will win a lot of games especially in a top heavy league. They could win 55+ games but their ceiling will always be what it is

 

Their core has been together 3-4 years now, a lot of their actions on offense i mean i can half pay attention and it looks like 50 other Raptors games i've watched. Go to JV early, weakside picks to get Derozan 1 on 1 mismatches etc.

 

But the longer you play together the better secondary guys like Ross, Patterson, Joseph get at swinging the ball around. They just hit a 3 as i type this off some beautiful ball rotation. They are also getting some decent minutes from young big Jacob Poetl,who at one point was considered a top big man prospect

 

Wouldn't surprise me if they pull off some decent win streaks by beating teams they should beat. Everyone went with the Celtics but the Raptors could be the #2 east team again

[MtlJeff]

Now that Kawhi has clearly gotten his due with consecutive DPOY, everyone should make a point of watching Michael Kidd Gilchrist, who is just as ridiculous.

 

For maybe 5-6 possessions in a row his man could barely touch the ball, at one point he just left him and grabbed the ball out a big man's hands who wasn't paying attention.

 

If you ever watch Charlotte, he's #14....just watch him for a bunch of possessions regardless of where the ball is.

[baseballfrk8998]

Do you guys think Philly tries to move Okafor at some point this season? I'm not really sure how he fits in there in Philly with Noel and Embiid as he, IMO, is the weakest link. He has a pretty good post game, can knock down the midrange decently but is obviously not great defensively and has already had some off the court issues in his short NBA career.

 

If so, what's he worth and where could he end up??

[scratchswinger]

Now that Kawhi has clearly gotten his due with consecutive DPOY, everyone should make a point of watching Michael Kidd Gilchrist, who is just as ridiculous.

 

For maybe 5-6 possessions in a row his man could barely touch the ball, at one point he just left him and grabbed the ball out a big man's hands who wasn't paying attention.

 

If you ever watch Charlotte, he's #14....just watch him for a bunch of possessions regardless of where the ball is.

 

He's basically Tony Allen on steroids and Chris Paul's worst nightmare. I remember after the Clippers played him, last year CP3 was complaining about how guys like Stockton and Thomas never had anything but other PGs on them.

[scratchswinger]

Do you guys think Philly tries to move Okafor at some point this season? I'm not really sure how he fits in there in Philly with Noel and Embiid as he, IMO, is the weakest link. He has a pretty good post game, can knock down the midrange decently but is obviously not great defensively and has already had some off the court issues in his short NBA career.

 

If so, what's he worth and where could he end up??

 

Haven't they been trying to move him since the draft? They need a PG and wing player.

[scratchswinger]

http://youtu.be/V9kynuL1L1o

[MtlJeff]

Truthfully I wonder what Okafor's value is right now. Philly guys haven't done well with other teams (mcw, McDaniels) and Okafor hasn't been great early on. Slow big guys who don't protect the rim are lower value than ever before, and Zach Lowe said yesterday that execs seem to think that there's so many big men that they can be selective.

[scratchswinger]

I am sure Noel is more coveted at this point than Okafor.

 

You guys ever wonder what guys like LeBron and Westbrook would be like in other sports, particularly football? Westbrook would be incredible as a DB or WR, honestly a DB would be insane with his closing speed, athletic ability, and I just feel like he could be a really hard hitter. LeBron would be a mix between Randy Moss and Antonio Gates.

[F171615]

[media=]http://youtu.be/V9kynuL1L1o[/media]

 

 

Holy Toledo. Westbrook is moving so fast that he dunks between two great leapers (Griffin and Jordan) who are just waiting for him, and neither of them even begin to get off the floor.

Crazy stat from that game, Westbrook's Assist% and Usage% combined for over 100. More crazy, so far this year he's averaging over 100 for Assist% + Usage%. It doesn't seem like this is something that should be possible, but technically I guess it is. OKC's offense this season has truly been Westbrook and only Westbrook. Do they fine player's if they pass the ball to someone other than Westbrook?

[baseballfrk8998]

Truthfully I wonder what Okafor's value is right now. Philly guys haven't done well with other teams (mcw, McDaniels) and Okafor hasn't been great early on. Slow big guys who don't protect the rim are lower value than ever before, and Zach Lowe said yesterday that execs seem to think that there's so many big men that they can be selective.

 

Kind of what I was thinking. He's okay offensively and leaves something to be desired in seemingly every other facet of the game.

 

Westbrook is averaging something stupid like 38-11-10 so far.

 

Harden has 3 30-15 games, which is as many as there were all of last season in the NBA.

 

This is going to be such a fun season.

[MtlJeff]

I am sure Noel is more coveted at this point than Okafor.

 

You guys ever wonder what guys like LeBron and Westbrook would be like in other sports, particularly football? Westbrook would be incredible as a DB or WR, honestly a DB would be insane with his closing speed, athletic ability, and I just feel like he could be a really hard hitter. LeBron would be a mix between Randy Moss and Antonio Gates.

 

LeBron's potential in just about anything is fun to think about. Imagine him as a soccer goalie? I feel like you could put him in goal for a Mls team tomorrow

[scratchswinger]

I am sure Noel is more coveted at this point than Okafor.

 

You guys ever wonder what guys like LeBron and Westbrook would be like in other sports, particularly football? Westbrook would be incredible as a DB or WR, honestly a DB would be insane with his closing speed, athletic ability, and I just feel like he could be a really hard hitter. LeBron would be a mix between Randy Moss and Antonio Gates.

 

LeBron's potential in just about anything is fun to think about. Imagine him as a soccer goalie? I feel like you could put him in goal for a Mls team tomorrow

 

That's why I laugh when other countries say the US sucks at soccer or hockey. Imagine Reggie Bush in his day playing soccer or if Gronk could skate.

[MtlJeff]

I am sure Noel is more coveted at this point than Okafor.

 

You guys ever wonder what guys like LeBron and Westbrook would be like in other sports, particularly football? Westbrook would be incredible as a DB or WR, honestly a DB would be insane with his closing speed, athletic ability, and I just feel like he could be a really hard hitter. LeBron would be a mix between Randy Moss and Antonio Gates.

 

LeBron's potential in just about anything is fun to think about. Imagine him as a soccer goalie? I feel like you could put him in goal for a Mls team tomorrow

 

That's why I laugh when other countries say the US sucks at soccer or hockey. Imagine Reggie Bush in his day playing soccer or if Gronk could skate.

 

The US would dominate any sport you guys actually cared about, there's just only so many sports you can develop the infrastructure for. But with 350M people and a love of sports, compensation being what it is for athletes, and the facilities...I mean if you guys wanted to win the Cricket titles you would.

 

I played soccer when i was younger so i always think of some of the NBA super athletes. Guys like Westbrook or Lebron or even Zach Lavine types. These guys are like 6'3 + and super fast. I mean put Lebron in goal and have 11 Zach Lavines jumping for headers on crosses. Who's matching up with that?

[MtlJeff]

Kris Dunn is a homeless person's Gary Payton... I love him already

 

This Wolves core is scary talented

[scratchswinger]

You think they will try and move Zach? Or just put him at SG?

[MtlJeff]

Really hard to say, he has a lot of potential, but isn't a great defender and eventually will cost a lot of money.

 

It's kind of like Harden in OKC. I think they keep him though

[Ironman2010]

the Wolves core is the future of the NBA. Once Wiggins figures out how to pass and then use his freaky athleticism to defend --- watch out NBA

[DBill]

Go Spurs Go!