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NBA 2017/2018 Season


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  • 1 month later...

So, do you guys think anyone has a real chance to compete against the Warriors? On paper, a Boston team with Erving and Haywood, will be improved over what they had last year and that team was good enough to push the Cav's in the finals of the East. Now Lebron is gone, they should be the favorites to face the Warriors in the finals. Some people are saying Toronto could be a serious improvement with Kwahi, but i am not so sure his head is in the right place + he could be there for just a year. I think Houston will be worse this year with Carmelo and an aging Paul, they also lost some of their role players like Ariza who were major for them, but in theory they should be the team to push GS in the west, last year they were very close until the inevitable happened (ie Paul getting injured in the playoffs again).

 

My own team (the Lakers) is getting mixed reviews. Some people see us as being a 3-4 seed, others see us just scrapping a playoff spot. If Lebron cannot play 82 games and 35 minutes, we will likely be a 7-8 seed for sure, the West is the deepest it has ever been and the rest of the team is made up of has been's and kids. Unless Ingram or Kuzma (i highly doubt Lonzo will make a massive leap), can read All star levels this year, then we wont be a 3-4 seed for sure, Lebron cannot do everything himself, so i think the 7-8 seed is more likely than the 3-4 seed.

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So, do you guys think anyone has a real chance to compete against the Warriors? On paper, a Boston team with Erving and Haywood, will be improved over what they had last year and that team was good enough to push the Cav's in the finals of the East. Now Lebron is gone, they should be the favorites to face the Warriors in the finals. Some people are saying Toronto could be a serious improvement with Kwahi, but i am not so sure his head is in the right place + he could be there for just a year. I think Houston will be worse this year with Carmelo and an aging Paul, they also lost some of their role players like Ariza who were major for them, but in theory they should be the team to push GS in the west, last year they were very close until the inevitable happened (ie Paul getting injured in the playoffs again).

 

My own team (the Lakers) is getting mixed reviews. Some people see us as being a 3-4 seed, others see us just scrapping a playoff spot. If Lebron cannot play 82 games and 35 minutes, we will likely be a 7-8 seed for sure, the West is the deepest it has ever been and the rest of the team is made up of has been's and kids. Unless Ingram or Kuzma (i highly doubt Lonzo will make a massive leap), can read All star levels this year, then we wont be a 3-4 seed for sure, Lebron cannot do everything himself, so i think the 7-8 seed is more likely than the 3-4 seed.

Yet again nobody has a shot against GSW. Theyll win the title and I dont see them being pushed very much. Like you said the rockets have taken a step back and the Celtics will only get better if everyone stays healthy but the gap is still too much for them.

 

The lakers will be a 3 seed imo but at worst I see them being a 5 seed. The west is very deep but its Lebron James. The rest of the roster isnt very talented but to me theyre as talented and maybe even more than last years cavs team (depending on the progression of the young guys). I just dont see any team being better than a lebron James lead team outside of the warriors and rockets.

 

I may be a little biased but I think the Suns will be fighting for a playoff spot this season. Theyll most likely fall short of the 8 seed but theyll do better than most projections have them which is number 1 overall pick range.

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You are way more confident than i am about the Lakers, i doubt they will be a #3 seed, #5 is an outside possibility i guess. It should be a pretty easy win for GSW but i think Boston could be a surprise package if Haywood and Irving can mesh into the team that made it to the East finals without them, but outside Boston, who else has the talent to realistically compete?

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You are way more confident than i am about the Lakers, i doubt they will be a #3 seed, #5 is an outside possibility i guess. It should be a pretty easy win for GSW but i think Boston could be a surprise package if Haywood and Irving can mesh into the team that made it to the East finals without them, but outside Boston, who else has the talent to realistically compete?

Not a lakers fan but to me the lakers can compete with the warriors. They dont have the offense too match teams but they have 3 of the best basketball minds in the game on the team. Expect kuzma to have a big year and lebron to let ingram take that next step and play off ball while Lonzo and Rondo is in the game. Also they are going to be deadly in the fastbreak.
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I hope you are right because we have sucked balls (i do not mean Lonzo/Lavar) the past 5 years this is the worse stretch i remember as a Lakers fan and i have supported them since 1987..............................i just checked, it is easily the worse stretch the Lakers have ever had. We missed the playoffs 5 years in a row, before that we only missed the playoffs 2 years in a row 1 time and that was in the mid 70s.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My thoughts after 1/3 of the season gone.

 

I think the East is predictable so far, i expected Toronto to be good if Leonard is anywhere near the level he used to be (and he is). The 76ers and Indiana are top 5 as i expected, i did not expect the Bucks to be the team they are now, they went from a team that cannot shoot 3pts to a 3pt orientated team under their new coach, this also opened up the lane for Giannis (who still cannot shoot), putting him into MVP contention. Boston are below what i expected, most people had them as the #1 Eastern contender and they are 5th seed now, most of that has to do with trying to integrate Haywood and Irving, i think they have a lot of "really good" players but they lack a true super star. I guess Irving is a top 10ish type player, but he is not a 2 way player. I think they need to package a few of those really good guys and try to land someone like Anthony Davis (something they have been talking about for a while).

 

The West is very wild this year. I mean most people had Houston as the main threat to GSW, but they are 2nd last at the moment. Letting some key players (like Ariza) walk ended up being a huge mistake because those guys gave them defensive identity. Memphis, Sacramento, Clippers and Dallas were not considered playoff teams and all of them are above 50% win ratio and in the playoff spots.

 

In general though, i think Basketball has become very predictable and one dimensional. Sure there is more points, but teams follow the same strategy and those that do not are struggling. They all try to run, they all shoot a ton of 3pts, there is switching in all the positions and constant pick and rolls or pick and pop. All the one dimensional players are either retired or will retire soon and you end up with all these tweeners, 6 foot 7 inch type players with an average weight of 220 lbs. The average player now can dribble, shoot and defend anyone and if you can't, you end up with a 1 year low end deal. Centers are basically obsolete or close to obsolete, at least the old school post up types are essentially out of the league. There are a few teams playing a slow pace and shoot plenty of mid range shoots with some success (Memphis is one), but they have a few 35ish type players that will end up retiring soon. I surely get why the game is like that, but with these rule changes that basically make marking very difficult, we see the same type of games over and over. The only really good thing is that there is much fewer free throws and we see more scoring in general, but defenses almost do not exist, there is no varied strategies and the Hakeem/Robinson/Shaq type of centers are essentially dead, no post up game whatsoever.

 

I was thinking, if a Center like Hakeem or Shaq came to the NBA now, would he be successful? It is debatable for sure, offensively i think nobody would be able to stop them, but in the case of Shaq, i think he would be roasted in defense. I doubt he would have the footwork and energy levels to constantly switch on these guards.

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My thoughts after 1/3 of the season gone.

 

I think the East is predictable so far, i expected Toronto to be good if Leonard is anywhere near the level he used to be (and he is). The 76ers and Indiana are top 5 as i expected, i did not expect the Bucks to be the team they are now, they went from a team that cannot shoot 3pts to a 3pt orientated team under their new coach, this also opened up the lane for Giannis (who still cannot shoot), putting him into MVP contention. Boston are below what i expected, most people had them as the #1 Eastern contender and they are 5th seed now, most of that has to do with trying to integrate Haywood and Irving, i think they have a lot of "really good" players but they lack a true super star. I guess Irving is a top 10ish type player, but he is not a 2 way player. I think they need to package a few of those really good guys and try to land someone like Anthony Davis (something they have been talking about for a while).

 

The West is very wild this year. I mean most people had Houston as the main threat to GSW, but they are 2nd last at the moment. Letting some key players (like Ariza) walk ended up being a huge mistake because those guys gave them defensive identity. Memphis, Sacramento, Clippers and Dallas were not considered playoff teams and all of them are above 50% win ratio and in the playoff spots.

 

In general though, i think Basketball has become very predictable and one dimensional. Sure there is more points, but teams follow the same strategy and those that do not are struggling. They all try to run, they all shoot a ton of 3pts, there is switching in all the positions and constant pick and rolls or pick and pop. All the one dimensional players are either retired or will retire soon and you end up with all these tweeners, 6 foot 7 inch type players with an average weight of 220 lbs. The average player now can dribble, shoot and defend anyone and if you can't, you end up with a 1 year low end deal. Centers are basically obsolete or close to obsolete, at least the old school post up types are essentially out of the league. There are a few teams playing a slow pace and shoot plenty of mid range shoots with some success (Memphis is one), but they have a few 35ish type players that will end up retiring soon. I surely get why the game is like that, but with these rule changes that basically make marking very difficult, we see the same type of games over and over. The only really good thing is that there is much fewer free throws and we see more scoring in general, but defenses almost do not exist, there is no varied strategies and the Hakeem/Robinson/Shaq type of centers are essentially dead, no post up game whatsoever.

 

I was thinking, if a Center like Hakeem or Shaq came to the NBA now, would he be successful? It is debatable for sure, offensively i think nobody would be able to stop them, but in the case of Shaq, i think he would be roasted in defense. I doubt he would have the footwork and energy levels to constantly switch on these guards.

 

Basketball has become an exclusive 3 and D league lol. Tbh it's pretty depressing because I was always a fan of defensive minded teams like the Pistons in the mid 2000's but now we're seeing record number of points scored night in and night out. There's a bunch of guys getting 50 points or approaching that feat like it's almost nothing. I think Gregg Popovich said it best when he said "There's no more beauty in basketball". Every team is trying to be the Warriors even though they don't have the talent to play like them.

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Popovich is 100% correct, i agree with him totally. I particularly hate the lack of D, most people do not even try to challenge the person driving any more, everyone has become lightweight pussies. I kind of think it is my fault to be honest (i am joking but anyway, God heard my complaints), about 10 years ago when i was playing amateur basketball, i always could not get why 7 footers (or tall players in general) do not shoot more 3pts and why they usually suck at free throws...........................10 years later, they improved in both, now 40-50% of all the shots are 3pts and in most basketball academies in Europe, they do not even bother training the post game, they train all players as if they are point guards (ie, lots of dribbling, shooting, fast pace, ball movement and pick and roll).

 

The average player is way better than the average player in the 90s, i mean if you take it from a skill point of view, they shoot better, dribble better now and have way less turnovers, but what i do not like is the lack of variety. Before teams used to have their own style and character, you had more position focused basketball and more individual battles. So i guess it is not that i do not like 3pts, it is more about the lack of intensity and variety that i hate. I was also a massive fan of the "in the post" basketball. This is why i like watching Giannis, the dude cannot shoot at all, so he dunks all the time, he also plays mean, which is good in this pussy era.

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Defense is at an all time low in terms of effort. On paper youd think the defense would be better considering how athletic guys are now and how long they are but then you see guys moving out the way against any dude with a decent head of steam.

 

I used to think(naively i guess) that after the warriors run the pendulum would swing back a bit but there seems to be no end in sight. European players like you said have abandoned the post but I see the same here in the states. Every player no matter what size or athleticism is focused on playing this same style. The only solution in my eyes is to move the 3pt line back to 27-30ft or get rid of it all together. That would put more focus on the mid range and post game since only the best shooters like steph and kd could hit those shots.

 

My biggest fear is a 4pt line. If they did add that I bet in 10 years wed have games with 2 teams just chucking half court shots lmao.

 

This sounds selfish but I hope giannis never develops a jumper same for Ben Simmons. Those 2 are so talented and dynamic they might be able to change the style of basketball back to what it was.

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If they developed a 4pt line i would literally stop watching because it would be just a matter of time before 1/3 of the shots would be from there. I think there is a much bigger chance of that happening than they removing the 3pt line. A few things i think would help "return the big man" is to give 3 points for a Dunk, that would seriously change things i think because getting a dunk is probably easier than making a 3pt. Imagine someone like Giannis or Deandre Jordan? Their value would sky rocket! This won't help the mid range game, it also won't help with bring back old school post moves, however it will mean more shots much nearer to the basket. End of the day it will also mean more 3pt space, as more players will be closer to the basket.

 

I would also give the ball to the blocking player if it goes out of bound. If you gave the ball, it would encourage more players to go for blocks, which means more aggressive play in general and more entertainment.

 

The major downside i see from something like this is the all time statistics (total points etc). It would most certainly fuck up everything and bury old school greats because they simply did not record "total dunks" in the 70-80s. Anyway, i doubt they will do any of these changes, the commissioner is way too conservative.

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