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Post by gk on Mar 20, 2015 20:39:53 GMT -6
Welp. Dion Waiters is up for the task of saving the Thunder season.
Seriously though, Dion's defense in late games has been great all year. That's a huge potential development for him going forward.
Also surprised at how good JR Smith's defense has been. He's secretly turned in to one of my favorite players. That won't end well.
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Post by fatmenace on Mar 22, 2015 14:30:57 GMT -6
Spurs playing best game of the season right now against Atlanta. Passing is just sick.
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Post by fatmenace on Mar 22, 2015 15:13:05 GMT -6
another triple double for Westbrook. He's not even human at this point.
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Post by fatmenace on Mar 23, 2015 14:54:07 GMT -6
I'm so tired of hearing about the MVP. Just let the season play out. #oldman
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Post by fatmenace on Apr 1, 2015 14:53:36 GMT -6
Have you listened to the Windhorst podcast yet?
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Post by gk on Apr 1, 2015 20:58:41 GMT -6
Have you listened to the Windhorst podcast yet? I did. And you won't believe it, but I have thoughts. I'm not suggesting a lot of what Windhorst put out there isn't true. I've no doubt that there was some dysfunction. Maybe slightly more than your average team, but nothing out of the ordinary for a team falling below expectations. But like I said, a lot of it was/is true. Lebrun's definitely the one in charge. I haven't found video evidence of Tyrone Lue calling timeouts for David Blatt (has anyone?), and you'd think it'd be pretty easy to find with everything televised. Still, there's probably a weird power dynamic since Lue is paid so well and probably has closer ties with the players. I'm glad Windhorst brought up Kevin Love's back. There's no question that's been troubling him all season. The Westbrook-MVP is the most ridiculous non-story imaginable. This is why Windhorst has been so frustrating to follow. He throws so much shit at the wall, some of it certainly sticks, but a lot of it is just shit. I'm pretty sure Lebron's fee fees weren't hurt. It's probably true that Love hasn't fit in with his teammates. He didn't fit in in Minnesota. It's obviously possible that Love will leave at the end of this year, but I'd be more worried about Houston than the Lakers or the Knicks. But I'd still only put that at maybe 20%. He's going to be the #2 seed and the favorite to win the conference in his first damn year there. I don't expect them to win the championship this year, but give the team a whole offseason to practice together and they'll be the prohibitive favorite going into 2015-2016. If Love is really that pouty about his numbers and being a third fiddle, then it's pretty clear why he doesn't fit in with his teammates and why his defense is so poorly reputed. Speaking of his defense, my official scouting report: it's not as terrible as his reputation suggests! But here's the most important thing about the obnoxiousness of the reporting about this team.... WE'VE SEEN THIS EXACT SAME DAMN THING HAPPEN BEFORE. Spoelstra was allegedly on the hot seat because he didn't have the respect of the players. One of the Heat players BUMPED HIM. Lebron restrained Blatt. The Heat were near .500 early in the first Lebron season, the Cavs were 19-20. I remember Simmons suggesting the Heat should trade Chris Bosh that season. His numbers were lower and it didn't seem like he was contributing as much. Now - years later - everyone's falling all over themselves to talk about how integral Bosh was to their success. And he was! Just like Kevin Love has been for the Cavs. The Cavs' top lineups all have Kevin Love in them. The preseason expectations for this team were on the order of Conference Finals, maybe ECF champs, but another year away from a ring. That's where I'd put them now. I think they'll get to the ECF. I think they'll win, but it wouldn't shock me if Atlanta won. And I'd expect them to be underdogs against the Spurs or Golden State. Just want to keep that in mind when they lose in the playoffs and everyone loses their damn mind - oh, too late on that. /fire emoji
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Post by fatmenace on Apr 2, 2015 12:41:25 GMT -6
I get a Brian Shaw vibe from Lue. I think he's one of 'the boys' so he's popular. Not sure why so many clamor for him to take over.
I thought Lebron's comments today clarifying were great. Why wouldn't he call sets, or plays? He's smart, knows what's going on, etc.
I enjoy the drama, but they're clearly functioning great in spite of the drama, if there is any. That is going to be a fantastic eastern conference finals.
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Post by gk on Apr 2, 2015 14:05:48 GMT -6
Probably my favorite thing Windhorst has ever written about LeBron is this one right here about his tremendous recall ability: espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11067098/lebron-james-greatest-weapon-brain It might be embellished a bit, but I think it's illustrative that he's actually pretty darn basketball smart, maybe moreso than people give him credit for. Through that lens - yeah - he calls plays. Just like a point guard would do. I bet Chris Paul calls more plays than Doc Rivers. Like I said, that team was definitely in a funk, and I'll admit it's weird to consistently not see Kevin Love in Lebron's Instagram feed, but who the hell cares? (answer: apparently quite a lot of people) Kendrick Perkins for the last word.
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Post by fatmenace on Apr 3, 2015 6:38:52 GMT -6
Listening to the Lowe Post today and I love the idea of the top four seeds getting to pick their opponents for the playoffs.
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Post by gk on Apr 3, 2015 11:30:25 GMT -6
Stephen Jackson was awesome on the Grantland Basketball hour. Holy cow. Need more S-Jax in my life.
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Post by fatmenace on Apr 3, 2015 12:11:09 GMT -6
I'm hoping that was a test run. He'd be a great regular.
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Post by fatmenace on Apr 3, 2015 12:14:09 GMT -6
Who's your MVP? I'm going with Harden, although not sure you could go wrong with anyone.
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Post by fatmenace on Apr 6, 2015 9:33:57 GMT -6
Spurs Warriors last night was fun to watch. GS has been beaten badly three times this year, two of them were by the Spurs.
Let's get the playoffs going already.
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Post by gk on Apr 6, 2015 11:15:45 GMT -6
No question GS would prefer to have someone else knock out the spurs. Nightmare scenario (and maybe most likely?) would be if GS had to play the Spurs in Round 2 as part of a 1 vs. 4/5 matchup. In fact, maybe they were tanking last night to try to bump the Spurs up to 2/3.
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Post by fatmenace on Jun 16, 2015 21:48:40 GMT -6
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