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NBA 2017 - 18: A Shot at Parity


Relic

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I absolutely think this has been one of the more exciting starts of the regular season in a long time, though I closed last thread saying in the past I've paid perhaps too much attention to my own team, and not enough on the rest of the league. WIth the Bulls tanking, I've enjoyed heading over to NBA.tv for some teams I have seen too little of.

It's interesting that there is not necessarily one major storyline dominating others. Other than the Warriors still having about a 75% chance to beat the field in my opinion, there's just a great amount of stuff going on. Porzingis, in particular, is making me eat crow to half my New York friends. Last season, I staunchly insisted that he didn't have the killer instinct to own that team, and needed another guy to come in and be a true leader (Melo = vomit, of course). Man was I wrong. If Frank rapidly develops, boy could that be a fun team again in MSG.

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3 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

I absolutely think this has been one of the more exciting starts of the regular season in a long time

I absolutely agree. And I'm kind of surprised how many of us didnt see this coming. There is some serious Warrior fatigue to be had, and I sort of assumed this would be a lost season that ended with the Warriors steam rolling to victory with their over powered group of bland stars. That will probably still happen but the emergence of 10 to 15 legit stars has been a joy to watch.

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The Magic (8-9) were one of those teams that came out of the gate strong.  Now they have lost 7/9 and begin a brutal away trip tomorrow (4 games in 6 days, all against teams with above .500 records).

Last season, Elfrid Payton's defense impressed me.  I haven't seen much of Aaron Gordon, obviously he's a tremendous athlete.  And it looks like he's drastically improved his range.  Isaac has a very high ceiling that could be reached if he packs on the lbs and develops a jump shot.  

This team deserves some attention.  I'm very curious to watch them on Saturday against the Sixers, because they never get any nationally televised games.  

 

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Posted this on 11/15:

"Clippers are in a tailspin.  But Patrick Beverley being out is a huge blow.  I actually started wondering yesterday if they would consider trading DeAndre at the deadline.  He will continue to struggle without Chris Paul and JJ.  The Cavaliers would greatly benefit with DeAndre."

Nailed it!  According to a Washington Post article from yesterday, multiple teams are inquiring about DeAndre.

 

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3 hours ago, Sour Billy Tipton said:

Posted this on 11/15:

"Clippers are ww2 in a tailspin.  But Patrick Beverley being out is a huge blow.  I actually started wondering yesterday if they would consider trading DeAndre at the deadline.  He will continue to struggle without Chris Paul and JJ.  The Cavaliers would greatly benefit with DeAndre."

Nailed it!  According to a Washington Post article from yesterday, multiple teams are inquiring about DeAndre.

 

DJ to Phoenix for Monroe and that draft pick they got from the Heat. 

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1 hour ago, Relic said:

DJ to Phoenix for Monroe and that draft pick they got from the Heat. 

And that would earn Phoenix how many wins?  35? The Suns obviously need front court help, especially on defense.  But DJ would likely be a rental for them.  Too great of a chance that he would sign elsewhere in the summer.

Cleveland just makes too much sense.  They may need a 3rd team to make a deal, but you know LeBron will be pressuring the front office to pull the trigger.

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So Raps lost again to Indiana.  Referees were atrocious this game.  Last three minutes alone had by my count 7 missed calls (both ways) and that's not even going for ticky tack stuff or travelling.  Just brutal.

And yet I enjoyed the last three minutes in particular.  Why?  Lance Stephenson.  He is such a nutjob it is mesmerizing.  I really wish he would effect a Macho Man voice for interviews.  He's already insane, why not?  Would make him exceedingly popular.

Yes for the last three minutes I was daydreaming about Lance giving interviews and saying things like "HE'S GOT JEALOUS EYES!".  

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Detroit really impressed tonight, going into Boston Garden and beating the Celts by 10. No easy feat but Andre was a beast, Tobias was attacking the basket and hitting from outside, the guards were great, just a good all around attack to beat a contender.

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Man the Clippers are absolutely depleted. 

Teodosic: Might be back in January

Beverly: Out for the entire season

Gallinari: Has already missed 10 games and counting.

And now, Blake Griffin knee injury, damage to be determined.

Meanwhile it's depressing to watch OKC, I had not imagined they'd fair so poorly.

Maybe Zach Lowe was right to suspect that the addition of Carmelo messed up what would otherwise have been a good combination between Westbrook and George. Which is not to say Carmelo is to blame for how this continues to  go. I don't know why they're this bad.

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Melo is not the only reason, but I will forever insist that is a perennial loser. If he simply werent on that team, they'd be my second favorite team in the west (I will always root for Thibs, the angriest man in the NBA).

I hope they gel a bit and at least are a tough out in the playoffs. I like RW and Adams too much to see them so disappointng so far.

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Grizzlies ugly season got uglier yesterday with the firing of David Fizdale, which was apparently less about the losing streak and more about his personality clashes with Marc Gasol. Dumping a promising young coach at the behest of a (very good, but declining) star player is the latest in a string of horrifically bad moves by this front office. The franchise is circling the bowl right now, and between shitty contracts, horrible past drafts and complete lack of foresight on stockpiling future picks, the long run of playoff appearances is almost certainly over. The worst part is that they've likely missed their window to maximize the value of any of these guys in a trade, so even tanking isn't viable at this point.

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7 hours ago, Sour Billy Tipton said:

He's not a perennial loser.  He just wants to play the offensive half of basketball, and then watch the other team play offense.

I always was with the hype on him when he was such a scoring beast in Denver. Holy crap could he score, teammates or no. He came to NYC about three months before I did. My first bartending job here was a half block off MSG. I can't even explain how electric it was in fall of 2011, coming off their playoff out against Boston. But they started crappy. He got hurt, then Linsanity happened - I could tell you guys a bunch of overlong stories about how crazy that 3 weeks was, from my side of the bar. They fired D'Antoni, ended hot under Brown, but fizzled under injuries in the playoffs. 

Just about every Knicks game was on TVs behind me for the next few years. Melo lovers lauded his big scoring games. Others, more and more each season, started complaining over their beers about what god-awful defense he played, you're 100% spot on Billy. They also pointed out how his ISO-only gameplay made everyone else on the team worse. His diva persona rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. On my industry side, I know multiple people who served him (or LaLa. Universally loathed as an awful person by every industry staffer I know) and disliked him. Eventually it all went sour, as he was being paid by the worst owner in the NBA not named Sterling, with Phil Jackson's awful insistence that the triangle would still work minus Michael Jordan during the nascent period of today's 3-point gunner style play.

I'd go on and on, as I've had more bar chatter about Melo than any other athlete in my time here, just above Eli Manning. He's one of my least favorite players of all time for his obstinate refusal to adapt his game to anything that would help his team win. He thinks he is playing NBA Jam, not trying to win a 5 on 5 game.

Fuck Carmelo Anthony. 2am rant over.

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39 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It would appear so.

As I said, expecting a team of veterans and NBA champs to give a shit in October and early November was misguided, especially considering all the new faces.  They also had to give Wade his starting job so that he could make it look like it was his decision when he decided he'd be best coming off the bench, so that wasted a couple of weeks.

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