NBA Season 16-17: General Thread

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Westbrook has no discipline to his game. Calm down or your team has no chance.

Dude is always good for a couple losses because of it, which is just enough to bury his team in the playoffs.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Rwb having a bad game. But how many games would this thunder team win without RWB? They look god awful when he's off the floor.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Rwb having a bad game. But how many games would this thunder team win without RWB? They look god awful when he's off the floor.

Regular season hero... Too bad it's the playoffs now.

[Bryan_Wilson]

22x4 - 100m
21x4 - 84m
17x2 - 36m

That's how much money and years the Thunder have invested in Adams, Oladipo and Kanter after this season. Makes Wes Matthews and Powell look like bargains.

[EricaLubarsky]

0 will have two games that are more good than bad and will take the Rockets to 6, but still. That team had a rough future. Can't see them improving much so it'll be the Westbrook show for a while. You get all the good AND all the bad.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Westbrook is a seasoned veteran now and played like a 20 year old rookie in this game. I realize his team isn't that great, but chucking up garbage won't fix that.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Westbrook is a seasoned veteran now and played like a 20 year old rookie in this game. I realize his team isn't that great, but chucking up garbage won't fix that.

Yeah, kinda hard to blame his teammates for him shooting 6-23 from the field and 3-11 from beyond the arc... Oh, and those 9 TOs probably didn't help either!

[MavzMan]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Yeah, kinda hard to blame his teammates for him shooting 6-23 from the field and 3-11 from beyond the arc... Oh, and those 9 TOs probably didn't help either!

I'm usually a RWB defender but that is just awful. Both he and the rest of his teammates have to step up. OKC needs to spend a lot of money on coaching since they are pretty much locked into those guys long term.

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

22x4 - 100m
21x4 - 84m
17x2 - 36m

That's how much money and years the Thunder have invested in Adams, Oladipo and Kanter after this season. Makes Wes Matthews and Powell look like bargains.

Because outside of drafting, Presti is a giant idiot

[EricaLubarsky]

Phil Jackson trashing Melo so bad the NBAPA had to stand up for him
Knicks FO trashing Melo
NY media trashing Melo
Knicks sucking yet again
Melo's wife, La La leaves him

And the best response on twitter? "Just as well. Guy thrives in isolation."

[dirt_dobber]

Monte Ellis 25 min 2 points scored in loss to Cavs last night...

[BPo001]

Originally Posted by dirt_dobber

Monte Ellis 25 min 2 points scored in loss to Cavs last night...

He hasn't been closing games. Kind of surprising considering he can typically create his own shot, but I guess he's a liability on D. I'm sure he's fuming sitting on the bench at crunch time.

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Phil Jackson trashing Melo so bad the NBAPA had to stand up for him
Knicks FO trashing Melo
NY media trashing Melo
Knicks sucking yet again
Melo's wife, La La leaves him

And the best response on twitter? "Just as well. Guy thrives in isolation."

So Melo finally can go to Cleveland without La La

And the best response was:

Damn, his only ring.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by sefant77

So Melo finally can go to Cleveland without La La

And the best response was:

That one's good, too.

[BPo001]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Phil Jackson trashing Melo so bad the NBAPA had to stand up for him
Knicks FO trashing Melo
NY media trashing Melo
Knicks sucking yet again
Melo's wife, La La leaves him

And the best response on twitter? "Just as well. Guy thrives in isolation."

[Bryan_Wilson]

Has there been a weaker 1 seed than the Boston Celtics? How many teams in the East outside of the Cavs could win a series against the West PO teams? God I hate how the East still looks like a red carpet for w/e team Lebron is on and the West just seems to get stronger and stronger.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Has there been a weaker 1 seed than the Boston Celtics? How many teams in the East outside of the Cavs could win a series against the West PO teams? God I hate how the East still looks like a red carpet for w/e team Lebron is on and the West just seems to get stronger and stronger.

Yeah, Silver needs to break this shit up... Hell, the Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East with NY, WAS and PHI -- it's not like teams bus to games these days... And, yeah, the NBA plays a lot more games, but their road trips are already in geographical order, so it's not like whatever division they're assigned to makes any difference when it comes to travel expenses/fatigue.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Has there been a weaker 1 seed than the Boston Celtics? How many teams in the East outside of the Cavs could win a series against the West PO teams? God I hate how the East still looks like a red carpet for w/e team Lebron is on and the West just seems to get stronger and stronger.

That's what you get with a GM who won't make a trade unless they absolutely fleece the other team. Coulda had either Paul George OR Jimmy Butler, but wouldn't give up the assets to do it. And this is what you get. And I'm pretty sure part of it had to do with not giving up overrated Jae Crowder.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Has there been a weaker 1 seed than the Boston Celtics? How many teams in the East outside of the Cavs could win a series against the West PO teams? God I hate how the East still looks like a red carpet for w/e team Lebron is on and the West just seems to get stronger and stronger.

1) Isaiah Thomas is their superstar and he's not playing up to the level he was at before his sister died tragically, which is completely understandable. His play makes the play of their rather average swing players better and his relative low level of play is making the rest of the team easily defensible.

2) The Celtics are a team that is guilty of good coaching to maximize their abilities, but a fairly weak roster with relative lack of size. The playoffs expose the teams who are low on talent, but high on chemistry. It's possible to dominate the regular season without size, but when things slow down in the playoffs, smaller teams struggle with efficiency. They're being massively abused inside by the Bulls.

[sefant77]

Bulls asked for both Nets picks...so i kind of understand why they didnt pull the trigger on Butler.

[EricaLubarsky]

https://twitter.com/rachaelhoops/sta...39016821993473

Griffin is a dick

[EricaLubarsky]

Westbrook with the 51pt triple double. Takes 43FGA (almost half of all FGA attempted)

Thunder lose and now down 0-2

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Westbrook with the 51pt triple double. Takes 43FGA (almost half of all FGA attempted)

Thunder lose and now down 0-2

He is today's Iverson.

[Underdog]

Empty stats.

[MavzMan]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Empty stats.

Well, doesn't help that your 2nd highest paid player at $17 million is coming off the bench and only gets 7 minutes. If you were to take Michael Jordan in his prime and put him on today's 76ers, what do you think would happen? Exactly whats happening in OKC. The team has a true super-star in his prime surrounded with average to below-average (some of them are young) players and in the playoffs.

WB had 17 FGM and 13 assists. He counted for 30 of the 40 made FGs for the entire team. I'm not arguing that he is a complete head case, but completely discarding him as "Empty stats" is more than just a little off in this particular case.

[BPo001]

To be fair his teammates don't exactly get a chance to do much on offense because RW is chucking up 43 attempts. OKC put themselves in this mess by signing Adams, Kanter, and Olidipo to those contacts. Olidipio didn't make much sense to me seeing is as how he can't space the floor. I thought Kanter would be in the floor when RW is out. At least he gives them someone to go to on offense.

[saclare]

17-43 FG, 2-11 3PT, 15-18 FT
13 AST, 10 REB, 4 STL, 1 BLK, 4 TO, +11

Awful shooting night compounded by going 3-17 in the 4th quarter. Very impressive stat line, but to quote RWB "I don't give a f*** about the line, we lost"

I get that his teammates aren't the best, but holy moly you've got to give them a chance when you are that broke in the 4th. Also, 2 of the 3 makes were with 1:15 remaining in the game, where it was essentially out of reach, with the one at 1:15 bringing them within 7. Not discounting the free throws he took, but in that regard, watching a game where RWB and Harden shoot a combined 38 free throws was so awful.

[EricaLubarsky]

RWB needs to prove he can play well with others. Sounds like he has unmatched passion to win, but it's a 5-man game and he's trying to play 1-on-5.

He's like Kobe-- he's good, but he'll never be a champion unless he has some help. He's driven teammates away and now has a reputation for being a poor teammate and hard to get along with. He absolutely needs a better supporting cast, but some of the questions about his supporting cast are about him as a teammate.

Thunder are going to have a hard time improving, too. They're over the cap next year and don't have a second rounder and only have a late first. They also don't have much in the way of trade assets. Even if they had FA money, it's also unclear if a free agent would sign there-- lots of rumors that players hate playing with RWB.

[Underdog]

Anyone remember when OKC was a superteam consisting of Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka? What a poorly managed shitshow they've become since...

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Anyone remember when OKC was a superteam consisting of Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka? What a poorly managed shitshow they've become since...

Well you have to wonder if Durant left in part because Westbrook can't control himself as a player. Such out of control basketball might be good enough to get WB back to the finals one day, but if you lose important games because of it...well....

[BPo001]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Well you have to wonder if Durant left in part because Westbrook can't control himself as a player. Such out of control basketball might be good enough to get WB back to the finals one day, but if you lose important games because of it...well....

I'm sure that was part of it. I think the other part is just seeing how much fun GS has playing and how well they share the ball. It's the exact opposite in OKC where KD and RW basically took turns playing ISO ball.

[Melonhead]

There is no changing of Westbrook. He is what he is at this point. Now that Durant is gone, his full fledged ball hogging is on display.

Oladipo is a solid B guy, and Adams I would love to have on my team. Thunder were great through 3 quarters, with multiple guys involved, and then westbrook decided to do it all on his own. The definition of double edged sword because he can do so much for you, and singlehandedly take it all away. 18 shots in the 4th quarter. Went 0-12 at one point during that stretch. 2-11 from 3 overall from a guy who should rarely be shooting threes.

You see exactly what Durant put up with for years (he's still a bitch for going to GS), and I dont blame him for leaving OKC. OKC will never win a championship, unless Lebron himself walks through that door.

BUT HEY TRIPLE DOUBLE with most points! (anddd one of the worst 4th quarters in nba history)

[Melonhead]

What kills me is that Houston isnt that great on defense. you get guys moving and there will be an open shot or open lane to the rim. But when the whole team knows its Westbrook ball and nobody else, its pretty easy to gameplan

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

What kills me is that Houston isnt that great on defense. you get guys moving and there will be an open shot or open lane to the rim. But when the whole team knows its Westbrook ball and nobody else, its pretty easy to gameplan

I want a collection of gifs of all the awful offensive possessions. I saw so many possessions where three and sometimes four guys sagged to defend Westbrook and he still didn't pass it at all or make efforts to find guys. Their defense was awful, but Westbrook defended himself by keeping it after he ran into a double or triple

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

I want a collection of gifs of all the awful offensive possessions. I saw so many possessions where three and sometimes four guys sagged to defend Westbrook and he still didn't pass it at all or make efforts to find guys. Their defense was awful, but Westbrook defended himself by keeping it after he ran into a double or triple

I mean, how do you average a season trip-dub if your teammates can't hit a basket? No reason he shouldn't be looking to drive and kick when that many defenders are sagging back to the basket, especially when his shooting is in a funk... Dude doesn't have the BBIQ to be a true superstar in this league -- playoff wins factor into the equation.

[EricaLubarsky]

https://twitter.com/world_wide_wob/s...30961834962945

Ellis with the elite defense

[BPo001]

Cavs came back from a huge deficit. Looking like they're going to be up 3-0. Does Paul George get traded this off season?

[BPo001]

Dahntay Jones is still in the NBA? Just saw him on the Cavs bench.

[BPo001]

K. Lowry
4-10 13pts
D. DeRozan
0-8 8pts

Yikes. Bucks up 2-1

[MavzMan]

I only watch the last 6 minutes of the game and saw that Deron Williams was in the whole time. Play-by-play says Kyrie went out at 4:17 left in the third and never played again. Did he get hurt? Him and Love both barely played half a game.