The 2016-2017 NBA basketball thread

[JackpotJohnny]

Was thinking about somethings last night after the game.

 

1 Lebron is the greatest athlete to ever set foot on an NBA court I don't think that there is any real dispute there. He is also a great enigma. Because he is easy to dislike. The "decision", his comments about never being on a super team his constant whining to refs, etc etc etc. He and Jordan are too different to objectively compare. It is like saying who is the better football player Brady or Jerry Rice.

It is also crazy to think for as great as he is that his teams are still a Ray Allen buzzer beater and a Draymond sack tap from being 1-7 in the finals.

 

2: The KD hate is hysterical. I mean if you look at it objectively instead of the eyes of a fanatic. Elite sports teams have one goal and that is to win championships. If you are building a team and have the opportunity to get one of the most dynamic players in the league without trading away your future or sacrificing your salary cap the bigger question is why wouldn't you go after that guy especially if it is a position of need?

 

 

3: Growing up in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s if you asked me in 1995 How many championships the teams would win by 2020

49ers 3 more to bring total to 8

Giants 0

A's 0

Warriors 0

Sharks 0

 

To see the Giants have 3 world series victories and the Warriors with 2 NBA Championships now is unreal

 

Not as unreal as the median housing price in the bay!

[One_Putt_Blunder]

LOL tweeted last night when they had an shot of sunset over the bay how it makes me miss it, checks real estate listings- nevermind.

[MtlJeff]

I like spending 6-7 hours there at a time. I go to San José a lot for work, and take the red eye from SF when I go.... So just get some time in the bay to shop and eat on the water

 

That's enough for me! I like cheap housing

[tocino]

Short of something drastic as mentioned, or injuries. Unlikely it's different next year.

 

Short of Lebron going to the Spurs I'm not even sure there's a team in the west POTENTIALLY capable of beating the Warriors. CP3 going there would maybe be worth a couple of wins?

 

I still think the best chance for lebron is the Cavs, and trading love

 

Oh you mean besides the spurs this year who were up by 20

 

In one game yes. I don't think they win that series, maybe 4-2 at best. Not bad but you don't think they were going to win that series?

 

I mean you said not a team potentially capable of beating them. Idk that's just extremely hard to say imo when they were losing by 20 to a team in playoffs

 

I think you missed the part about me saying there's not a team out west in its current configuration that is capable of stopping the warriors from winning 4 games out of a 7 game series. The spurs may have won game 1 if kawahi was healthy but they were never favored to win the series. In fact a lot of people were predicting the western conference finals were going to go to 6 with almost no one picking the spurs to win. Game 1 wouldn't have changed that even if leonard managed to keep playing on his already injured ankle he got from playing against Houston (a fact that some people conveniently forget... once you sprain an ankle, it's incredibly easy to re-sprain it if you don't take the time to let it heal and rehab properly). He probably should've asked steph where he bought his ankle braces and maybe he could've protected it more.

[pinhigh27]

Whatever you guys say. If they win first game on road I'm not sure how they wouldnt have a legit chance to win series. No one predicted spurs would win game 1 at gsw

[MtlJeff]

I would have equated the Spurs winning game 1 against the Warriors to the 76ers winning game 1 against the Shaq/Kobe Lakers.

 

I'll never say anything for sure , i love the Spurs. I just don't think they would've won the series

[scratchswinger]

If they would have won game one then they would have lost 4-1.

[jgonz69]

No politics here being discussed. He said the withe house. I don't see why the team would visit a house made of willow tree branches so I understand their decision

erveybdoy konws ecatlxy waht im tlkanig aoubt.

[BoogieThumper]

PARADE DAY view from my office. Parade starts in a few hours. If I can get better pics later I'll post up.

[Peanut191]

PARADE DAY view from my office. Parade starts in a few hours. If I can get better pics later I'll post up.

 

Any chance you could post a close up pic of Durant when they come by? Scratch would like to confirm whether or not he has a spine. :)

[BoogieThumper]

PARADE DAY view from my office. Parade starts in a few hours. If I can get better pics later I'll post up.

 

Any chance you could post a close up pic of Durant when they come by? Scratch would like to confirm whether or not he has a spine. :)

:cheesy: Im on it LOL!!!

[MtlJeff]

You're in the office early man!

[BoogieThumper]

You're in the office early man!

First in, first out lol

[One_Putt_Blunder]

When did Championship Parades turn into petty roasts of the loser? I love Dray but man you just won your 2nd title in 3 years celebrate the victory stop taking shots at the Cavs,

 

Yes I know Cle started it last year with the Halloween Party and the 3-1 logo on the drums etc.

[MtlJeff]

Lebron also wore the "warrior" shirt. So it's tough to fault Green

 

Neither of these teams really takes the high road, so it's hard to blame either one, there is just a lot of trash talk.

 

I don't really know how much animosity there is. Durant for example told Bill Simmons today that although he and James don't talk a ton, they are friends

[MtlJeff]

When did Championship Parades turn into petty roasts of the loser? I love Dray but man you just won your 2nd title in 3 years celebrate the victory stop taking shots at the Cavs,

 

Yes I know Cle started it last year with the Halloween Party and the 3-1 logo on the drums etc.

 

I think the inciting incident , so to speak, was Curry saying "their locker room still smelled like champagne" after a regular season game in Cleveland the year after their first title.

 

I don't think Curry meant it to be offensive, i believe he said as much. But Lebron is very, very petty

[One_Putt_Blunder]

When did Championship Parades turn into petty roasts of the loser? I love Dray but man you just won your 2nd title in 3 years celebrate the victory stop taking shots at the Cavs,

 

Yes I know Cle started it last year with the Halloween Party and the 3-1 logo on the drums etc.

 

I think the inciting incident , so to speak, was Curry saying "their locker room still smelled like champagne" after a regular season game in Cleveland the year after their first title.

 

I don't think Curry meant it to be offensive, i believe he said as much. But Lebron is very, very petty

 

 

Yeah I mean Im not throwing sole blame on Dray or the Warriors here, Cle was pretty bad last year and now it is just a retaliation of well they did X last year so this year we're gonna do X. Just a weird thing to me, dont see it in in other sports victory parades or social media very often if at all.

[BoogieThumper]

Just a handful of shots today. I loved Draymond's tshirt. LBJ can wear whatever shirt he wants and serve 3-1 cookies at his party if you win. I think Draymond and LBJ are friends anyway. If you have 20 mins to spare you tube "The Shop" with Lebron and Draymond Green. They are sitting in a barber shop during this seasons All Star weekend drinking wine and talking. I could tell by LBJ and Draymonds interactions they are cool.

[tocino]

I think for the most part, players genuinely respect and like each other. It's not like the old days where the respect was there but teams hated each other. Free agency, AAU ball, national team participation, etc... means there's a lot more interaction now and more chances to be friends or at least cordial. The trash talk is just that. Petty yes, but not necessarily meant to be mean. You're just seeing it on the national stage more due to increased tv coverage, the internet, and social media. It's basically like the yo mama jokes you used to say to your friends back in elementary school. I think all the hot-take guys and fans make more out of it than the players do

[sharkiesj]

Watch out for the Clippers not next season but he season after that. Could possibly have CP, DJ, Bron, and the season after that add Klay and/or Dray. Things looking up for the Clippers. By then Dubs are nothing.

[scratchswinger]

Danny Ainge taking a huge gamble, Flutz might turn out to be better than anyone he plans to trade for.

[MtlJeff]

I don't really like the move but who knows , the rumor is that they love Josh Jackson, and i get why they might do that. Jackson, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart would be a very potent defensive team capable of switching everything, which is how you have to play in the modern NBA. Josh Jackson is supposedly an all world defender with great size.

 

But Fultz could be James Harden 2.0 for a team offensively. With the talent in the league, you aren't winning a championship unless you have a couple of legit creators.

[scratchswinger]

I just don't like the deal for Boston because I don't like commiting to Isiah Thomas long term and essientally trading Flutz does that. I'm sure Boston have plans to flip these asstest for George or Butler or another? Still assures Thomas long term.

[pinhigh27]

I've never seen a player play as hard as thomas does and have people so hesitant to commit to him. You can build a team around harden but not thomas? harden has less than 0 D and similar offensive abilities. I swear sports are a hive mind with everyone obsessed with prototypical size.

 

brock osweiler is going to be the best QB ever because he's 6 8. how did that work out. obviously height is probably most important in NBA but I just don't see why so many people act like thomas isn't an elite player. he is.

[scratchswinger]

Thomas is a great player no doubt but his D is actually worst than Hardens if that's possible. He's an incredible value right now but I wouldn't want to lock down a large percent of my cap to a small point guard that is going to get banged up and can't play D. Hes arguably the 5th best PG in the NBA, I like the contract he's under not the 200 mil he's going to get. They could have gotten Flutz for value and traded IT for a better wing player which is far more important to being a dynasty than an undersized PG is.

[scratchswinger]

Lakers have a huge decision coming, they absolutely cannot mess this up. I think Ball is the choice, when you take his dad out of the equation the kid has some amazing skills. It's just really hard to pass on someone that can lead like it appears he can. Guys like that don't come around often. I love an athletic wing like Jackson but Balls intangibles can be a difference maker.

[MtlJeff]

The Thomas question has nothing to do with people thinking he's no good, he's just not good enough to beat the Warriors even if you add Paul George or Jimmy Butler. Boston has to choose between keeping their picks and young assets and building for 2021 or trying to go all in now and that's an easy decision.

 

From a business perspective you try to sign Gordon Hayward, keep Isaiah another year and then decide, and you hope to make the conference finals the next couple of years to tread water, and make money, until you can build around the kids

 

26-27 teams in the NBA are essentially punting the next 3-4 years and waiting out the Warriors and Lebron's superteam whoever that may be.

 

No one is going to all in to acquire Jimmy Butler or George, unless they already have one of these 4 players: Lebron, Harden, Leonard, Westbrook. Those guys plus Durant /Curry are the 6 best players in the league and only their teams are going to play for "right now" above all else

 

Boston would be foolish to prioritize 2018 over 2022 when they have the best collection of long term assets in the NBA and the Warriors exist

[MtlJeff]

Lakers have a huge decision coming, they absolutely cannot mess this up. I think Ball is the choice, when you take his dad out of the equation the kid has some amazing skills. It's just really hard to pass on someone that can lead like it appears he can. Guys like that don't come around often. I love an athletic wing like Jackson but Balls intangibles can be a difference maker.

 

I love Ball as a player but his dad does scare me a bit. There's some comments about how he never interfered at UCLA and i get that, but he also wasn't trying to build a brand while Ball was at UCLA because Lonzo was still an amateur and couldn't sell stuff.

 

Now he has the baller brand riding on Lonzo killing it in the pros. He's already taken shots at the UCLA team after their loss in the tournament. If the Lakers take him and he struggles a bit, does he go all over ESPN and FS1 (where he is a regular guest) and say that Walton's coaching is the problem, or Russell is the problem, or the team stinks etc....what does that do to the locker room?

 

As Fox said too, a guy like Patrick Beverley, who might take a night off vs the Lakers....no way he does that now. Every PG in the league wants to kill this kid when his dad is out there saying he's better than Steph Curry.

 

I think these things do matter. And the fact that Lonzo doesn't stay away from it (imagine if Lauri Markannen's dad had said Arizona lost because they had too many flashy black players who lacked fundamentals, and how he'd be forced to distance himself from that).

 

I'd take Lonzo if i was convinced he was the best guy. If it was even i would take the other guy

[scratchswinger]

The PG 13 story is interesting, wonder if the Lakers will risk letting him get into Cleveland. If he wins a title there more than likely he signs with them.

[scratchswinger]

Basically Boston is trading the #1 pick for a future first and Jimmy Butler. Let's just for Danny Ainge that Flutz doesn't become a great.