The NBA - basketball talk

Why don't you think it will work well.

I think it might not work cause it's like Drummond alluded to in his Tweet: When they play small ball, where is KD going to play? PF or Center? Either way that's easy pickings for a big man with a post move like Boogie Cousins or Drummond himself on the other end of the court.

On the other hand....those pick and rolls are about to become fucking brutal. By signing KD, the Warriors said "fuck defense, we're just gonna rain it down on you". It doesn't even matter if their defense is lacking, all it takes is either Steph, KD or Klay getting hot for it to be trouble for other teams. Not to mention that Draymond and Iggy are still there.

edited 4th Jul '16 12:03:07 PM by NoChorus

Is Bogut gone? Because teams who were formerly interested are already refusing to deal with GS in anyway.

Edit: Dallas just took him in a trade.

edited 4th Jul '16 1:38:21 PM by ElementX

D.Wade is taking his talents to Chi-town.

Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo on the same team. Never thought I'd live to see the day.

D Wade and D Rose are both from Chicago, and are generally still well liked there, so many fans thought that would've happened.

I still can't get over how frustrating it is to see Rondo on my team. I have maintained for years that if there were any one "celebrity" I'd want to punch in the face, it'd be Rondo. Not acceptable targets like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Gwyneth Paltrow. In part because he could defend himself but I still think I might be able to take him, and in part because he's just kinda asking for it. Seriously, "fuck Rondo" is practically a meme over at blogabull.com. A great many of us Bulls fans despise him (for being a generally shit person).

I'm wondering if this will end up changing people's opinion on Riley as a GM. He's got some big fish under his regime, but this is now the third, fourth if you want to include Ray Allen, hall of famer who's walked out on the team after butting heads with him.

That and people have been giving Riley credit for Lebron coming to Miami when that was a plan Wade and Lebron had cooked up together.

You still needed to be ready for LBJ's arrival. Between taking an aging Shaq and getting Lebron & Bosh, I think Riley easily showed that he was an excellent GM for the Heat. You just cannot be considered a winner every year, unless your name is R.C. Buford.

Still sad to see Flash with another jersey. Stories are better when players keep the same during their entire careers...The only future HOFers that never switched teams I can think of are San Antonio's eternal trio & Nowitzki. And I can only see Steph Curry, Westbrook and maybe Marc Gasol joining them in the future.

Speaking of San Antonio, here is a slice of genius I happened upon yesterday.

edited 7th Jul '16 1:49:13 AM by Julep

Westbrook already told OKC he's not signing an extension with them. Odds are he's gone next year.

And with Timmy retiring, this only leaves Manu, TP & Dirk. Three foreigners, ironically. In Texan teams.

Curry is likely to stay in GS forever, as the face of the franchise. If San Antonio remains competitive, Kawhi Leonard will probably do the same. But I can't imagine Cousins or Davis, for example, wearing the same jersey forever.

Although the expanded salary cap might make some players become more faithful, because their teams will offer them impressive contracts.

Dirk.

This may be an ironic question, but is anyone else finding it hard to give a shit about the NBA this season?

I didn't even know this was All-Star weekend until during the game itself.

I'm a huge NBA fan so I've been paying a lot of attention. Despite the lopsided competition this season, there's been some pretty fun narratives. Westbrook averaging a triple double, Harden putting up an MVP campaign, KD joining the dubs and all the drama associated, and now, Cousins getting traded to New Orleans. Fun stuff.

Oh yeah, and my Knicks being ridiculous and embarrassing themselves as per usual.

edited 23rd Feb '17 5:28:47 PM by ElementX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jILUqbh0EU

http://www.nba.com/article/2017/04/20/bucks-introduce-raptors-barney-theme

I feel sorry for Toronto fans for the Barney theme song. For the Bucks, it seems to be working in their favor.

Damn that's harsh.

Manu Ginobili has probably played his last NBA game a few days back. The league just lost its most inventive and skilled player, the closest thing to a "Larry Bird heir" there was: not much when it comes to physical prowess, but golden hands and a better feeling of the game than everyone else. That he still managed to shine in a League that became more and more powerful is a testimony to his talent.

90% of the players would kill to do just one of the assists he routinely offered. I linked the vid in a post above, it is still one of the greatest compilation of basketball greatness available on YT.

edited 28th May '17 3:51:16 PM by Julep

Derrick Rose is taking some mental and physical health time to reassess his future.

I've always been a fan of his, and I feel bad for him. He has been mocked by "basketball fans" for years because he dared to believe in himself to try to be who he was before his injuries. Because he tried to see his full life plan beyond just his breakout season and impact on people's fantasy teams. He keeps trying to get back to the strengths he knew he had, and he hasn't even gotten that much worse, but even when things are going comparatively okay he's still treated as a joke.

The night UMBC, Virginia and the impossible all collided

Apparently this is kind of unusual? I don't really follow college basketball, but I stumbled across this.

It was a team ranked 16th in it's part of the bracket, beating a team ranked first in that same part of the bracket. That has never happened before in the men's college basketball tournament (it happened decades ago in the women's bracket).

It's almost poetic that an underdog team that is literally named after Golden Retrievers won. In the Chinese Zodiac Year of the Dog at that.

edited 18th Mar '18 8:24:57 PM by M84

I think there was a 259 wins streak from #1 seeds against #16 before that happened. The best part is that it wasn't a narrow win at the last second - it was a straight up crushing, by 20 points.

Another big performance was Nevada (#7) beating the middle place, I mean Cincinnati (#2) after being down 22, 10 minutes away from the end.

edited 20th Mar '18 5:27:03 AM by Julep

I don't even insta-hate on LeBron anymore.

I'm more just sad that the NBA, and particularly the East, is so uneven, making it predictable and dull.

The Rockets had a legitimate chance to knock off the Warriors. Sucks that they lost Paul and got screwed by the refs on the last two games, but they also shot themselves out the game.

I'm just so bored with this Finals matchup. I'll be surprised if Golden State doesn't sweep.

Too many cooks, too many cooks...

The one good thing about this matchup is that both teams' stars have a track record of socially constructive activity and vocal dissatisfaction with the current bigoted administration and cultural standing.

But as far as actual basketball goes? They can be great, but I'm still not gonna watch. I'm bored.

The good news at least is that the Warriors didn't look quite as unbeatable as I expected. As much as some would hate Lebron to join the Rockets, I kinda want it to happen just so I can see that great matchup.

Plus, that would open it up for some new blood in the East, with the Celtics, Sixers and maybe the Bucks on the rise.

edited 30th May '18 8:11:29 PM by ElementX