***2021-2022 NBA Season Thread***

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Neither Noah or Gibson are leaders. Those guys are role players. Not role models for overall development/growth.

 

Same as many former Lakers. Including Gasol, Worthy, Rodman at that point, Nash at that point, Malone at that point, etc.

 

Aaron Brooks is a role player. Who is the star and who is the leader ?

 

In LA Shaq was the leader and lost that to Kobe.

In DC Arenas was the leader for a time before he screwed up.

 

This doesn't come across typing it as well because I am doing 3 things at once.

 

The lingering issue remains...Derrick Rose. I do not think he will ever be even close to the player he was.

Um.....what?

 

A leader to me....provides leadership and direction. That's Noah (oh and role players aren't voted to All NBA 1st teams btw) and Gibson.

 

You're just talking about a guy that's gonna be the offensive alpha male. That's Rose. Answered that already. I know there are questions/doubts about that. They tried to change that but like i said before, they couldn't trick Melo into coming. Sucks to suck. 

 

And Gilbert Arenas damn sure was not the leader of those Wizards teams. It was either Butler or Jamison. I watched a ton of Wiz games back then and never got the impression that Gil led anything. 

 

Being the best offensive player does not equal a leader. 

Edited July 19, 2014 by BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93

[Kosher Ham]

It is not all about offense. I agree. That is not what makes a leader.

 

Jamison could be considered a leader at that time.

 

Rose... that's the issue.

 

I smack talk about the Lakers...but I realize cleary the situation they are in. The only chance they have of making the playoffs is OTHER teams downfall.

 

I like Noah, I think Gibson is a good player...but reaching that top spot without a star player on offense is a liability. Especially if they are leading.  

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

It is not all about offense. I agree. That is not what makes a leader.

 

Jamison could be considered a leader at that time.

 

Rose... that's the issue.

 

I smack talk about the Lakers...but I realize cleary the situation they are in. The only chance they have of making the playoffs is OTHER teams downfall.

 

I like Noah, I think Gibson is a good player...but reaching that top spot without a star player on offense is a liability. Especially if they are leading.  

well, I've already said I don't expect them to get higher than 3-4 seed. 

 

But leadership damn sure isn't the issue. 

 

I'd pick the top 4 like this:

1. Wizards

2. Cavs

3. Bulls

4. Raptors

[Dr. Do Itch Big]

For those that wouldn't deal Wiggins for Love, would you deal Irving for Love?

Yes

[EvilMonkeyBoy]

*HUGE NBA NEWS*

https://twitter.com/Luke_Mellow/status/490577601384448000

RT @Luke_Mellow Jan #Vesely is expected to arrive in #Istanbul tmrw to finalize deal with #Fenerbache -- Three years, w/ the 3rd year being a player option.

Glad he's finally gonna get some playing time somewhere amirite?

[Destino]

*HUGE NBA NEWS*

https://twitter.com/Luke_Mellow/status/490577601384448000

RT @Luke_Mellow Jan #Vesely is expected to arrive in #Istanbul tmrw to finalize deal with #Fenerbache -- Three years, w/ the 3rd year being a player option.

Glad he's finally gonna get some playing time somewhere amirite?

It's no coincidence that the year where Ernie is thought to have a great offseason, is one in which the team selected no players in the nba draft.

[Bubble Screen]

It's no coincidence that the year where Ernie is thought to have a great offseason, is one in which the team selected no players in the nba draft.

So you guys are saying it was a great offseason because he re-signed Gortat? That seemed like a no brainer to me. Picking up Pierce was nothing special, when you consider he's 38 and coming off a season where he posted career-low numbers across the board.

Honestly, I think I would have rather kept Ariza (if the numbers worked) over the Truth.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Bubble Screen

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Hey? What do you know? Bubble Screen doesn't know about **** except the big news items.

Now Google the rest and pretend like they weren't important enough to talk about.

[Bubble Screen]

Hey? What do you know? Bubble Screen doesn't know about **** except the big news items.

Now Google the rest and pretend like they weren't important enough to talk about.

Dejuan Blair? How could I have forgotten THAT addition! Lol

Seriously, help me see how your team was improved this offseason. I'm truly curious.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Bubble Screen

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Dejuan Blair? How could I have forgotten THAT addition! Lol

Seriously, help me see how your team was improved this offseason. I'm truly curious.

Kris Humphries as well.

[Destino]

Dejuan Blair? How could I have forgotten THAT addition! Lol

Seriously, help me see how your team was improved this offseason.

Consider that the wizards began last season with Vesely, Seraphin, Singleton, and Maynor. You are so focused on the bobcats being one game worse than the wizards but you didn't notice that the wizards started the season with a laughable bench.

[Bubble Screen]

Kris Humphries as well.

Oh yeah. That was a nice addition, not gonna lie.

[Hersh]

Dejuan Blair? How could I have forgotten THAT addition! Lol

Seriously, help me see how your team was improved this offseason. I'm truly curious.

 

The team has a lot more depth this year compared to last year. Instead of having just Ariza, which is what Ernie wanted originally, the team was able to add Pierce, Humphries and Blair with the latter two being major upgrades in the rotation. Fans also expect Beal to continue to improve and for Otto Porter to get in the rotation start to become a good player. 

 

Good starting lineup with much better second unit=lots of legitimate optimism

[Warhead36]

Dejuan Blair? How could I have forgotten THAT addition! Lol

Seriously, help me see how your team was improved this offseason. I'm truly curious.

Humphries, Blair, and Pierce give us depth. Wall and Beal will only improve. Porter will at least contribute something.

Losing Ariza will hurt us on D but we couldnt afford that contract long term.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Saw this on reddit, pretty damn funny. The Sixers, of course, are accepting applications from the general public for some pretty serious basketball ops positions. Such as:

http://nbateamjobs.m.teamworkonline.com/Jobdetail.aspx?j=58401

Feel free to find something up your alley and apply:

http://nbateamjobs.m.teamworkonline.com/Category.aspx?c=170&l=11

Just make sure you throw me some tix for the tip if you get it.

[spjunkies]

They need to go ahead and post those openings on monster and craigslist.

[Going Commando]

well, I've already said I don't expect them to get higher than 3-4 seed. 

 

But leadership damn sure isn't the issue. 

 

I'd pick the top 4 like this:

1. Wizards

2. Cavs

3. Bulls

4. Raptors

I could see that happening, but it still seems weird to think about the Wizards as a top seed. I think the 1 seed gets 56ish wins or so. I think the Wiz, Bulls, and Pacers can all get there. We've been a little too quick to bury the Pacers this offseason IMO. They've got flaws, but they're still fundamentally sound.

And the Cavs can get there if they get Love.

I think you're right that the Raptors will be fourth just because someone has to win the Atlantic and they're solid.

It's going to be extremely competitive at the top of the central this season. I think you will see a dogfight between the top three teams and each of them will finish within a couple of games of each other and someone will end up having to get the 5th seed.

If the Cavs get Love, I think it goes:

1.) Cleveland

2.) Washington

3.) Chicago

4.) Toronto

5.) Indiana

6.) Charlotte

7.) Miami

8.) Detroit or Atlanta

If the Cavs stay as is, I can see

1.) Washington

2.) Chicago

3.) Toronto

4.) Cleveland

5.) Indiana

6.) Charlotte

7.) Miami

8.) Detroit/Atlanta

[KDawg]

I think you guys are drinking the koolaid a bit on the Wiz. I think they're a top 4 team, but I don't think they have a better team than Chicago, maybe Indiana, maybe Cleveland. But hey, they do have a very good team so who knows.

[Going Commando]

Gasol is taking Boozers spot and is better than boozer. Bulls were top two defensively with Boozer starting. They'll be fine with Gasol.

I was going to say this. Gasol is a solid defensive player, better than Boozer. The Bulls will probably have the best defense in the league again.

 

Besides that, the team on paper is 10x better than the squad last year that nearly won 50 games even if you think Rose's knees will melt during warm ups of the first game.

It's better. The improvements my be more marginal than you're thinking, but they're improvements. Gasol, Mirotic, and McDermott are upgrades to what ended up being a thin rotation last season. And just having Rose back and playing games at any level should help. He can't miss the entire year again can he? I think the Bulls win 50+.

 

They have guys that can actually ya know....shoot the ball now. Last season, they had 2?? Dunleavy and Augustin? Mirotic and McDermott shoot. Regardless if they are rookies, knocking down open jump shots will translate immediately. Anything else is icing on the cake. Mirotic can develop his Dirk skills as time wears on

I'm still skeptical about Mirotic. Winning the Spanish league MVP is a good honor, but I still think the ACB is less competitive than the NCAA. Tiago Splitter was a world beater in Spain. Came to SA fully baked and has taken a couple years to become a good solid player, but not really a stand out.

I bet McDermott is a more promising and better player today than Mirotic.

But I also think McDermott was one of the steals of the draft and that he has a really good chance of winning ROTY if he can win the starting SF job. He won't be a stud this year, but I think he'll be a quality rotation player and he's a true knockdown shooter, I think he will be the rare rookie that actually shoots well.

I think you guys are drinking the koolaid a bit on the Wiz. I think they're a top 4 team, but I don't think they have a better team than Chicago, maybe Indiana, maybe Cleveland. But hey, they do have a very good team so who knows.

We were already a better team than Chicago last season. Indy was better last season, but seems like they've taken a step back this offseason and we should definitely take a step forward.

Cleveland is hard to peg because of the potential of a Love trade. If they get Love, they'll probably be better. But if they don't, I doubt they're better than the Wizards. They have a pretty long ways to go coming up from where they were.

Today, with Love still in Minnesota, the Wizards have the best and deepest roster in the East IMO. They should finish as one of the top two or three teams.

---------------

Just for kicks, I think the ROTY race is going to be very interesting this year and it will come down to five main players:

1.) Jabari Parker - The favorite. He's going to start and play a huge role on a bad Milwaukee team and score a ton of points immediately. Winning ROTY will inflate his stock/profile and he's going to be overrated for the next few years until people start picking apart his game and see his flaws and his stock will plummet. Basically the exact same thing that happened to Kyrie Irving.

2.) Nerlens Noel - Second best odds IMO. Not a real rookie, will benefit from having an entire year to acclimate to the league compared to everyone else. Will start and play a big role on an awful team. But will not score like Parker, so that will work against him in awards voting.

3.) Doug McDermott - More of a dark horse, but there is an opportunity for him to play a very important role because Chicago's SF position is pretty open. The Bulls will be able to hide him defensively too. He was obviously the best rookie in the Vegas Summer League. And he'll probably have the distinction of being the only good rookie to play a meaningful minutes for a good team.

4.) Marcus Smart - only if he starts. If the Celtics don't trade Rondo and Smart rides the pine, then he'll drop down the list. But if they turn him lose, he's going to impress people and Boston is going to be a lot better than everyone expects like Phoenix was last season. The 8th seed is not out of reach for them.

5.) Julius Randle - Gonna play, gonna put up numbers on a Lakers team that will probably be bad.

Edited July 21, 2014 by stevemcqueen1

[Kosher Ham]

I think you guys are drinking the koolaid a bit on the Wiz. I think they're a top 4 team, but I don't think they have a better team than Chicago, maybe Indiana, maybe Cleveland. But hey, they do have a very good team so who knows.

 

I don't think Chicago (Gasol and Rose have yearly injury concerns) or Indy has really improved that much.

 

Granted, I don't think the Wiz have built a better starting 5 than what Cleveland will put on the court if they keep or trade Wiggins for Love.

 

I do think the Bullets are top 4-5 though. I think they will be right there with the Hornets.

 

Some other team is going to sneak into the top 8 though and be a shocker.

 

I think even with the loss of LeBron...Miami is going to be a tough out.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Steve, you just ruined all my hopes and dreams

with that Tiago comparison. You evil **** lol

[DCranon21]

Saw this on reddit, pretty damn funny. The Sixers, of course, are accepting applications from the general public for some pretty serious basketball ops positions. Such as:

http://nbateamjobs.m.teamworkonline.com/Jobdetail.aspx?j=58401

Feel free to find something up your alley and apply:

http://nbateamjobs.m.teamworkonline.com/Category.aspx?c=170&l=11

Just make sure you throw me some tix for the tip if you get it.

 

 

Man I should go ahead and apply just to see if I can get an interview. LOL

[Going Commando]

Steve, you just ruined all my hopes and dreams

with that Tiago comparison. You evil **** lol

Tiago is a good player though. Fundamentally sound in almost all the aspects of his position. Good defender, good rebounder, and is a good inside finisher. Europe produces bigs with good skill levels.

The only thing is it took him a little while to earn his way into the rotation for the Spurs and become a reliable contributor, and that's the key point to remember. And he was a 26 year old rookie. Tearing it up in Europe's top leagues doesn't mean you can step right into the NBA. The level of competition is still probably lesser than the NCAA.

Mirotic probably has higher upside than Splitter because of the shooting but I would take the patient approach with him.

Granted, I don't think the Wiz have built a better starting 5 than what Cleveland will put on the court if they keep or trade Wiggins for Love.

Without Love, LeBron will be Cleveland's only starter better than Washington's starter. Washington runs 10+ deep in quality too and Cleveland definitely does not...

The only way I see Cleveland being better than Washington this season is if they go top heavy and get Love.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Yeah. I'm not all that excited about CLE.

But I think it depends how good you think Kyrie is. He's good but I think ppl let the All Star game performances and Uncle Drew commercials skew his actual performance

[Kosher Ham]

haha. Ugh. How did I know that was coming.

 

LeBron instantly makes all of them better.

 

He alone, is better than the Bullets starting two stars.

Without Love, LeBron will be Cleveland's only starter better than Washington's starter. Washington runs 10+ deep in quality too and Cleveland definitely does not...

The only way I see Cleveland being better than Washington this season is if they go top heavy and get Love.

 

Did you miss the part where I said starting 5 ?

 

Read.