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

[PeterMP]

7 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Yeah, there is a chance that Cleveland could get someone good at 8.  Right now, I'm thinking the draft will play out like this:

 

1 - Ayton

2 - Donkic

3 - Bagley

4 - Jackson Jr

5 - Porter

6 - Bamba

7 - Young

8 - Carter/Sexton/Bridges

 

Of those groups, I think I like Carter best for them.

 

Bridges is also an interesting fit.  Sexton only makes sense if they are starting over.

[Spaceman Spiff]

6 hours ago, PeterMP said:

 

Did you read my post?

 

"He's a great fit lots of places.  Just most of those places can't also afford a max contract."

 

There are really two teams set up to offer a max contract next year (currently).  Philly and LA.  He's a fine fit in LA.  He's a bad fit in Philly, and that's only if Philly isn't willing to trade Simmons.

 

There is a long list of teams where he'd be a great addition.  However, it doesn't make sense for him to go there because even with him they aren't likely better than GS or they don't have room to offer a max deal.

 

If he opts in and it is a sign and trade, he'd be a great fit with the Rockets.  He'd be a great fit in DC.  DC becomes a title contender next year if they trade Wall for Lebron.

 

Yes, I read it...that's what I meant, places that can afford a max contract.

[justice98]

I dont think I buy the narrative that because we still ultimately got CLE/GS, that the NBA is predictable.  I was one of the many that predicted CLE/GS in the preseason, but a lot of stuff happened and had to happen that I didnt plan on. 

 

- Like Boston being without Hayward all season and Irving for the postseason.

 

- Houston getting home court, but losing Chris Paul for Game 7.  

 

- It took CP3 missing AND 27 straight missed 3s in Game 7 for GS to advance.  

 

- CLE overhauled the entire team midseason.  Then the overhauled team wasnt really any good such that I didnt even think Lebron's will could overcome it.

 

- CLE barely escaped the first round, going 7 against Indy.  Then went 7 in the conference final. Jalen reminded me this morning how Philly was the EC favorite, even after being down 2-0 to Boston.

 

Now, if somebody's gonna tell me that none of that mattered and it was always gonna be this outcome, I'm gonna say they're full of you-know-what. 

[The Evil Genius]

Dray isnt ever going to be a stats guy. His D was the only thing that kept those poor first halves from being 20+ deficits. In Game 7, he was truly the only person playing D for the Dubs in the first half. 

 

Is he regressing? I didn't see it this year. 

[justice98]

27 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

In LA, I'd say in terms of winning a championship if Randle could shoot much at all or Ball could really shoot (I'm going to assume Ball's shooting the last 2/3s of the season where he was better and was about a 33% 3 point shooter represents his true 3 point shooting percentage, but he's not a 37+% shooter), then LA is the bast chance to win a championship.  But since that's not the case, I don't think you can say that.

 

 

I ragged on Lonzo for his 3pt shooting, but he was comparable to some folks that get a pass.  Like Lonzo actually wound up shooting better from 3 than Russell Westbrook.  31% to 29%, on a comparable number of attempts.

 

All he has to do is get that 31% up to about 35-37%, and he'll be ok.  That's about 15 (give or take) more makes over the course of the season.  That's not a crazy improvement and seems doable with a little work. 

 

Oct/Nov, he shot 27% on 105 attempts, Dec/Jan/Feb, he shot 47% on 99 att, and March he shot 28% on 91 att.

 

I'm guessing here and just eyeballing the numbers, but league average for qualifying PGs looks to be in the 36% area.  The general vicinity of that is not unattainable.

 

Fun fact:  Useless deep dive, but for some reason, he shot 40% from 3 on Fri, Sat, and Monday.  24% every other day of the week. lol

[No Excuses]

There needs to be some form of anti-trust action that forces parity in the league. 

 

Enforced hard cap, end bird rights, no more MLEs. 

 

The concept of super teams has really made the playoffs a major snooze fest for the most part. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by No Excuses

[PeterMP]

1 hour ago, The Evil Genius said:

Dray isnt ever going to be a stats guy. His D was the only thing that kept those poor first halves from being 20+ deficits. In Game 7, he was truly the only person playing D for the Dubs in the first half. 

 

Is he regressing? I didn't see it this year. 

 

Clearly, his 3 point shooting has fallen off the last 2 years and fell slightly again this year compared to last year.

 

And he's even further down in this playoffs, which is actually abnormal for him. 

 

His offensive rebounding numbers are also trending down the last 2 years.

 

Those are both consistent with a guy whose legs are losing their lift.

 

If he's a 28% 3 point shooter next year and his ORBs fall again next year, that's going to be an issue for GS.

 

The only reason why I'd hedge on Green declining is that he's still finishing at the rim at the same level.  Decline in finishing at the rim almost always is an indication of the beginning of a decline.

Edited May 29, 2018 by PeterMP

[Dr. Do Itch Big]

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

 

 

But seeing him failing to compete for contested rebounds in his area was troubling.  That was the effort level of a man for whom it hurts to move.  Reminded me of Nene.  Dead serious, maybe he's got some plantar fasciitis?

We watched completely different games. Draymond was competing hard for those rebounds against a taller bigger Capella and he did more than hold his own. I also thought he did as well as could in the pick in roll. Where Draymond was horrible was his turnovers and scoring. 

 

KD got out rebounded by PJ tucker on multiple occasions and no one else but Draymond seemed to box out. 

[Momma There Goes That Man]

1 hour ago, The Evil Genius said:

Dray isnt ever going to be a stats guy. His D was the only thing that kept those poor first halves from being 20+ deficits. In Game 7, he was truly the only person playing D for the Dubs in the first half. 

 

Is he regressing? I didn't see it this year. 

 

I think he looks like a shell of the player he was those 15/16 seasons. 

 

He doesn't carry that passion and spark that ignited them and kept them hungry and focused. Plus he looks completely lost offensively. He's not moving very well either and the man probably shouldn't try to dunk again. I don't know if he's hurt or just worn out from these past few seasons. But it's been noticeable all season to me

Edited May 29, 2018 by Momma There Goes That Man

[Dr. Do Itch Big]

Lost his passion? That’s nonsense. He was the hungriest and most competitive player on the Warriors. If anything I’m glad he toned it down and stopped getting technicals. 

[Chew]

11 minutes ago, No Excuses said:

There needs to be some form of anti-trust action that forces parity in the league. 

 

Enforced hard cap, end bird rights, no more MLEs. 

 

The concept of super teams has really made the playoffs a major snooze fest for the most part. 

Amen.  LeBron, Wade, and Bosh started it all.  The three of them met during the off-season and agreed they'd all take less money to join forces and build their own custom All-star team.  Disgusting.   

And the super teams era had begun. 

[justice98]

5 minutes ago, Chew said:

Amen.  LeBron, Wade, and Bosh started it all.  The three of them met during the off-season and agreed they'd all take less money to join forces and build their own custom All-star team.  Disgusting.   

And the super teams era had begun. 

The super team era began a long, long time ago.  Just the method of construction changed.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

1 hour ago, No Excuses said:

There needs to be some form of anti-trust action that forces parity in the league. 

 

Enforced hard cap, end bird rights, no more MLEs. 

 

The concept of super teams has really made the playoffs a major snooze fest for the most part. 

 

And wherever Lebron goes will still make the Finals.

 

Again, when I was growing up, there were times when in the NBA All Star game, 9 of the 10 player on the floor were either a Celtic, Laker, or Sixer.

 

And that's the era that saved the league from irrelevancy.

 

One guy in basketball matters more than in any other sport. You can't fix that.

[The Evil Genius]

Karl Malone scoring 20.6 ppg at 39 and then taking a 95% pay cut to join Shaq and Kobe says hi. So does Gary Payton.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2018 by The Evil Genius

[Going Commando]

1 hour ago, No Excuses said:

Enforced hard cap, end bird rights, no more MLEs. 

 

If you had a hard cap, by definition there would be no exceptions.

 

A hard cap is central to my plan to reform  the NBA.  It would go further to enforce parity than any other move you could make.  But it's also a really tough sell.  You would have to give up a ton of money to the players to get them to buy in, because essentially the design of a hard cap is to lessen player control of the NBA.  Maybe you could get rid of max contracts and run an NFL-style system of player acquisition.  But maybe that's not enough.  Maybe you have to increase player share of revenue, and then in doing so maybe you lose the support of ownership.

 

The creation of the DPVE was a more surgical tool whereas a hard cap is a hammer.  I think it's the best reform that the NBA thought they could manage to get everyone to agree too.  And if given enough time, I think it might work.  We need to get past this pre-DPVE contract era where the pre-2009 draft class superstars had no such strong incentives to stay with the team that picked them beyond their second contracts.

 

But the DPVE won't stop teams from gaming the system to build superteams in the way that Philly did.  That is going to require a reform to the draft.

[The Evil Genius]

I wish most major sports leagues (even with a hard cap) had the Larry Bird rule.

[Going Commando]

3 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

One guy in basketball matters more than in any other sport. You can't fix that.

 

You can force them all to play on separate teams.

[PeterMP]

I really don't understand the anger in people picking where they get work.  

 

(And LKB is right, even with a hard cap some teams are going to be under it and if Lebron goes there they automatically become a serious contender.)

[Going Commando]

Just now, The Evil Genius said:

I wish most major sports leagues (even with a hard cap) had the Larry Bird rule.

 

Having the Larry Bird Exception, by definition, means you've got a soft cap, not a hard cap.

[No Excuses]

4 minutes ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

 

And wherever Lebron goes will still make the Finals.

 

Again, when I was growing up, there were times when in the NBA All Star game, 9 of the 10 player on the floor were either a Celtic, Laker, or Sixer.

 

And that's the era that saved the league from irrelevancy.

 

One guy in basketball matters more than in any other sport. You can't fix that.

 

I don’t think this would be true over the long haul since a hard cap would force more turnover in the league.

 

If a team wants LeBron on the roster, it would have to make really tough choices for the remaining roster as it won’t have exceptions that a soft cap provides. 

[Going Commando]

1 minute ago, PeterMP said:

I really don't understand the anger in people picking where they get work.  

 

It's not a normal job.  It's a pure competition done for the purposes of entertainment.

[The Evil Genius]

4 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

Having the Larry Bird Exception, by definition, means you've got a soft cap, not a hard cap.

 

I know. I would like to see ..someone like the NFL allow one exemption from the cap. Or somehow lessen the hit on one star homegrown (or 3+ year veteran) player. It both gets the player paid and doesn't punish/handcuff the team for having star talent.

Edited May 29, 2018 by The Evil Genius

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

13 minutes ago, Chew said:

Amen.  LeBron, Wade, and Bosh started it all.  The three of them met during the off-season and agreed they'd all take less money to join forces and build their own custom All-star team.  Disgusting.   

And the super teams era had begun. 

 

The 86 Celtics sometimes played 5 Hall of Famers at once: Johnson, Bird (at the 2 strangely), Parish, Walton, and McHale. Their starting 2-guard made an All Star team once. Their sixth man made two All Star teams, an All Defensive team, and an all rookie team.

 

The 85 Lakers had 5 Hall of Famers including possibly two of the 5 best players ever. (Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Wilkes, McAdoo). Byron Scott never made an All Star team but probably should have at least once.  Michael Cooper made the All Defensive team every year. Mitch Kupchak had an "eh" career but was an ACC player of the year when that really meant something.

 

 

[No Excuses]

In general, the NBA needs to include more flexibility for teams to get out of bad contracts as well. 

 

If the Wizards fired Ernie Grunfeld tomorrow, it wouldn’t make a difference in the short term because the new GM would be stuck with all of his bad contracts. 

 

I know this sounds ridiculous but the current NBA structure is very kind to savvy GM’s, who are a handful and absolutely brutal to everyone else. Fans of pretty much 80%+ teams in the league root for perpetual mediocrity. 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

You guys want the NBA to be the NFL. Every team with one star that stays there forever and a supporting cast that turns over every season.

 

That sounds just awful.

 

Every team would be Milwaukee - one star and bunch of garbage. And we've already seen that Lebron and a bunch of garbage is STILL going to reach the Finals.

 

Houston committed a hate crime against basketball last night, but they were and are more than good enough to knock off GSW.