NBA 2017: The Kings of Comedy

[DunderMifflin]

8 hours ago, SkynJay said:

Nuggets tie the NBA record for 3 pointers in a game in a route of Golden State.  The Dubs could not hit a three all night, even when open.  Nuggets are starting to be worth watching; Jokic is absolutely legit.  He has four or five highlight passes every night while quietly scoring 10-20 points. 

They will get first round swept if they hold onto the playoff spot, don't get me wrong.  But it is exciting to see a superstar in the making every night.

Jokic? 

[SkynJay]

Yes.  May be a touch of homer hyperbole there but not a lot.  Jokic has completely changed the team in his second year and does it with smart play, not just freak skills.  Plays a lot like Marc Gasol in his prime but has picked it up faster; I see a very high ceiling for him.

[sperry]

PER isn't hte best metric, but Jokic's 27 is outrageous. It looks like we've again reached a trough where foreign players are undervalued in the draft in reaction to the outrageous speculation in the mid 00's.

[Jaime L]

48 minutes ago, sperry said:

PER isn't hte best metric, but Jokic's 27 is outrageous. It looks like we've again reached a trough where foreign players are undervalued in the draft in reaction to the outrageous speculation in the mid 00's.

Jokic is a stud. Pretty sure he's caught the Nuggets totally by surprise too - otherwise they woulda taken him in the first round instead of the guy they just traded, Nurkic. 

It's also crazy to me the Nuggets are in the 8th playoff spot, 5 games under .500. This ain't your daddy's Western Conference. 

[SkynJay]

Nuggets had no idea, he had a couple passing highlights last year and was a good talent.   I agree that foreign players may be b undervalued again;  most the nuggets young talent is overseas (and Canada somehow).  

[Relic]

Ibaka to Raptors. Wow. Thoughts?

[Jaime L]

30 minutes ago, Relic said:

Ibaka to Raptors. Wow. Thoughts?

Think it's a great move for the Raptors. Ibaka's having a strong season - not sure why the Magic couldn't get more for him. The Magic have now somehow turned Victor Oladipo and the 11th pick in the draft into Terrence Ross and a draft pick that'll be in the 20s. They'll trade that house down to a paperclip yet. 

Raptors had been struggling while the Celtics and Wizards caught fire so I'm sure Ujiri was feeling some urgency. Hawks are right there too. Everyone wants to avoid the 4/5 seeds because that probably means Cleveland in round 2. Of course with Love out for 4-6 weeks and Lebron needing rest, maybe Cleveland willingly falls to the 2nd seed and messes all that up. 

[briantw]

4 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

Think it's a great move for the Raptors. Ibaka's having a strong season - not sure why the Magic couldn't get more for him. The Magic have now somehow turned Victor Oladipo and the 11th pick in the draft into Terrence Ross and a draft pick that'll be in the 20s. They'll trade that house down to a paperclip yet. 

Raptors had been struggling while the Celtics and Wizards caught fire so I'm sure Ujiri was feeling some urgency. Hawks are right there too. Everyone wants to avoid the 4/5 seeds because that probably means Cleveland in round 2. Of course with Love out for 4-6 weeks and Lebron needing rest, maybe Cleveland willingly falls to the 2nd seed and messes all that up. 

The Cavs don't really need home court in the East anyway, and they'll almost certainly not have it against whoever comes out of the West.  Not a lot of point to fighting over that one seed for them.

[Maithanet]

3 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

Think it's a great move for the Raptors. Ibaka's having a strong season - not sure why the Magic couldn't get more for him. The Magic have now somehow turned Victor Oladipo and the 11th pick in the draft into Terrence Ross and a draft pick that'll be in the 20s. They'll trade that house down to a paperclip yet. 

 

It's a great trade for the Raptors, Ibaka can play.  They didn't give up much, and by all accounts they want to sign him to a long term deal, so this should be a big win for them. 

I feel a little frustrated the Wiz haven't pulled off a similar trade.  It seems like the team desperately needs depth, and surely there are teams out there willing to part with a couple of bench guys for the sake of a first round pick?  I never thought we'd be saying "We need Trevor Booker to help with our playoff run."

2 minutes ago, briantw said:

The Cavs don't really need home court in the East anyway, and they'll almost certainly not have it against whoever comes out of the West.  Not a lot of point to fighting over that one seed for them.

I'm sure Lebron is really worried about ceding homecourt to the Celtics or Raptors.  I mean, he's had so many Eastern Conference nightmares of late. 

[Relic]

I like the trade too but.... Ibaka is like 32 years old. And his defense has fallen off quite drastically from where it was,  according to what I've heard or read (haven't watched a single Magic game this year, and he wasn't all that impressive in the playoffs last year). I would have thought the Raps would go after a 3 and D guy. 

[Jaime L]

12 minutes ago, briantw said:

The Cavs don't really need home court in the East anyway, and they'll almost certainly not have it against whoever comes out of the West.  Not a lot of point to fighting over that one seed for them.

Yeah, I don't get why the Cavs would care at all where they fall. Hell, be the 8th seed. They're still be the overwhelming favorite in the East. All that matters is everyone is well rested and healthy. Especially Lebron who has a ton of miles on him but seems the most determined to still play a lot of regular season minutes. No reason to.

22 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I feel a little frustrated the Wiz haven't pulled off a similar trade.  It seems like the team desperately needs depth, and surely there are teams out there willing to part with a couple of bench guys for the sake of a first round pick?  I never thought we'd be saying "We need Trevor Booker to help with our playoff run."

Yeah, they gotta do something to bolster this bench. It's ridiculous John Wall has to reenter a game in the 4th quarter where the Wizards were leading by 30 in the 3rd, but watching it, it wasn't clear their bench guys were ever going to score without someone spoon-feeding them a halfway decent look. Particularly embarrassing because one of those bench guys is currently making $64m but I digress.

Don't think the Wizards have any assets to trade for help. This is where all the trading of draft picks and selling off 2nd rounder rights is killing them. Think their best hope is if some veterans get bought out and rooting around the landfill of discards. 

[briantw]

Just now, Jaime L said:

Yeah, I don't get why the Cavs would care at all where they fall. Hell, be the 8th seed. They're still be the overwhelming favorite in the East. All that matters is everyone is well rested and healthy. Especially Lebron who has a ton of miles on him but seems the most determined to still play a lot of regular season minutes. No reason to.

I think home court is obviously preferable to the alternative, but yeah until someone else in the East steps up it still belongs to LeBron regardless of seed.

[Slurktan]

1 hour ago, Relic said:

I like the trade too but.... Ibaka is like 32 years old. And his defense has fallen off quite drastically from where it was,  according to what I've heard or read (haven't watched a single Magic game this year, and he wasn't all that impressive in the playoffs last year). I would have thought the Raps would go after a 3 and D guy. 

He's 27.  Hes shooting just under 39% from 3.  His d is worse than what it was in his first few years but it certainly isn't bad, and most importantly for the Raps defence it allows them to have him and 2Pat out there to end games defensively against teams like cleveland and golden state who want to stretch you out all the time.

Great trade for the Raps.  Even if its only for this year.  Sad to see Ross go, I actually quite like him but he's stuck behind DeRozan and Norm Powell basically does what he does for cheaper.

[Relic]

Just now, Slurktan said:

He's 27.  

Hahaha, no he isn't. He SAYS he is, but he isn't. 

[Rhom]

Anybody else see that the D League is becoming the G League (as in Gatorade)? 

I actually don't hate this move.  Even though I know that it stands for "Developmental" I always kinda thought that D is a terrible name for a feeder league in a country where we associate D with close to failing grades.

[Rhom]

Also @Relic  Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox is giving you some competition in the epic man bun department!

 

[Rhom]

All Star Break update on the Young/Old Off Eff/Def Eff venn diagram. 

Only the Warriors and Spurs fit in both the Off/Def top ten circles.

 

[Rhom]

Triple post incoming!!!!!  Hat tip to REG over in the college bball thread... had to share this one:

Kyrie Irving says the Earth is undeniably flat.

Quote

'This is not even a conspiracy theory'

“It’s right in front of our faces. I’m telling you, it’s right in front of our faces. They lie to us.

“What I’ve been taught is that the earth is round. But if you really think about it from a landscape of the way we travel, the way we move and the fact that, can you really think of us rotating around the sun and all planets aligned, rotating in specific dates, being perpendicular with what’s going on with these planets?” 

[Greywolf2375]

5 hours ago, Rhom said:

Triple post incoming!!!!!  Hat tip to REG over in the college bball thread... had to share this one:

Kyrie Irving says the Earth is undeniably flat.

Ignoring I want the C's to win, this is a perfect reason to not want the Cavaliers to go anywhere.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Wait. Kyrie is actually having his point proven. That this has become a social phenomenon proves that the Earth is indeed, flat. The Earthrounders just want to disseminate information and paint Kyrie a looney. It's facts.