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'19-'20 NBA Thread. Let the post Warriors World Begin


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  • 3 weeks later...

Well we have a 3 game win streak and Melo got player of the week. Which is weird.

 

Read that the viewership on the NBA is way down this year so the "The NBA is better when the Lakers are good" and "James Harden is the best scorer since Michael Jordan" narratives are not translating in to more viewers. It's kind of too bad, given this season's topsy-turvy nature has been really fun. I'm enjoying seeing the box scores again and checking out who is doing what. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've never been a huge NBA fan* to begin with. The whole China thing only served to lessen my interest in the league--something, frankly, I hadn't thought possible.

 

--

* I live in Utah, where the Jazz are pretty much the only game in town, but I grew up in Colorado. When people ask me why I'm not into basketball, I tell them that we didn't really have a professional basketball team nearby when I was growing up, we just had the Nuggets.

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Ah, Furious George. 

Looks like the League viewership is down this year, guess the "Warriors are killing viewership" and the "NBA is better when the Lakers to be Good," and "James Harden is the best scorer since Jordan," lines of thought are not panning out.

I think having the warriors destroyed by injuries wasn't the defeat people wanted to see.

The Lakers have the best record in the west and no one outside of LA cares.

And James Harden is the same as the old "Throw the ball into the paint and watch the big guy bang" kind of boredom but on the outside. The guy is a good passer and when Houston does some ball movement he and the rest look good. But watching him jack 34 shots and only  hitting 4 is...wild.

 

 

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Yeah, I mentioned it before in the past.  Karl always drove me a little crazy with the fact he never met a player he wasn't willing to throw under the bus, when blame needed to be placed.  I cant remember any of his own players he got along with other than Gary Payton (and I guess Shawn Kemp) and even then, it was like the relationship was like that neighbor couple whose hobby is yelling at each other as loud as possible.

 

Note: I'm kind of believer locker room issues should remain as in-house as possible.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well Hardin's shooting has improved, Lonzo Ball put 3 quality games together in a row....

 

Too many injuries this year - and I'm not just saying that as a Trailblazers fan.

Giannis is looking more amazing every year, guy is averaging 30pts a game in about 30 mintues. He's the only top scorer this season who's average goes up on Per 36 minutes. 

I'd almost put Carmelo as a feel good story, especially given the win on the road in (also injury plagued) Toronto.

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The Blazer core is still solid, at least offensively. They may have gotten too far behind to be a playoff team in 2020, but as a season goal getting healthy and adding some pieces in the off-season might not be that bad a thing. And Jusuf Nurkić coming back in February will be very interesting. He won't be enough for Portland to make a run for the playoffs, but it looks like the colleges are going to be producing some interesting talent for the 6-12 pick range in the draft.

 

I don't know that I'd write off the Warriors long-term either. They won't make the playoffs, but that means they will have a lottery pick in 2020. The right mid-season move might land them a second. And what lottery-level player wouldn't want to go to San Francisco and play for the Warriors? In 2021 people might well start to regret writing off the Warriors the way several people (myself included) are coming to regret writing off the Lakers.

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5 hours ago, Enforcer84 said:

Well Hardin's shooting has improved, Lonzo Ball put 3 quality games together in a row....

 

Too many injuries this year - and I'm not just saying that as a Trailblazers fan.

Giannis is looking more amazing every year, guy is averaging 30pts a game in about 30 mintues. He's the only top scorer this season who's average goes up on Per 36 minutes. 

I'd almost put Carmelo as a feel good story, especially given the win on the road in (also injury plagued) Toronto.

 

Why they only playing him 30 minutes?

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5 hours ago, Enforcer84 said:

Well Hardin's shooting has improved, Lonzo Ball put 3 quality games together in a row....

 

Too many injuries this year - and I'm not just saying that as a Trailblazers fan.

Giannis is looking more amazing every year, guy is averaging 30pts a game in about 30 mintues. He's the only top scorer this season who's average goes up on Per 36 minutes. 

I'd almost put Carmelo as a feel good story, especially given the win on the road in (also injury plagued) Toronto.

 

I did think Carmelo Anthony had more to give, but, only if he could except being a role player.

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5 hours ago, Enforcer84 said:

Giannis is looking more amazing every year, guy is averaging 30pts a game in about 30 mintues. He's the only top scorer this season who's average goes up on Per 36 minutes. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Badger said:

Why they only playing him 30 minutes?

If the Bucks are winning, do they really need to play him more? He can play 42-minute games in the postseason. And 30 minutes of Giannis is better than 48 for almost anybody else. And he has started all 36 games so far, so this form of "load management" seems to be working.

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  • 3 weeks later...

That is devastating news. You don't expect a Portlander to say anything good about a Laker (the 2000 Conference Final is a sting that will never be forgotten). But Kobe bedeviled us constantly. He had a sweet shot, great toughness, and a genius-level basketball IQ. The only player who comes close to that game-smarts in Lebron James, and one of my regrets is that they never got to meet with everything on the line. He was a decidedly imperfect man, but man could he play basketball.

 

Rest in Peace.

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I was at my dad's house.  Ironically, we were watching an older documentary on late Yankees star Thurman Munson, who died in an airplane crash in 1979.  Probably the sports' death that most affected my dad, being a lifelong Yankee fan, and Thurman Munson being his favorite current Yankee at the time.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I imagine that's one way to cope with the shortage of NBA-quality centers -- dispense with the center entirely.

 

Which is not as weird as it sounds. Lots of college teams don't have centers at all, playing in a set with two forwards and three guards. Rebounding and shot-blocking become everybody's responsibility on defense. And in the ideal situation, your quicker forwards run rings around the opponent's conventional center nullifying his height and strength advantages. Centers have virtually disappeared from the offensive strategies of NBA teams anyway, so this has been some time coming.

 

Which reminded me to check on Bol Bol. The incredibly tall draft albatross (he went late in the second round even though he was expected to be a lottery pick) has been out with a foot injury for almost two months. He has yet to play a minute in the NBA, having spent those parts of the season in which he was healthy at the Nuggets' G-League affiliate. I wonder what the GMs wondered -- is Bol Bol being pushed in a direction he does not want to go in his life? It seems that from his youth he was groomed to play professional basketball without being asked his own opinion,. It's possible that in his heart of hearts he would rather do something else with his life. He will probably never play for the Nuggets, and I doubt anyone else at the NBA level either. It's a sad tale -- not of wasted talent, but of a young man being compelled to do something of no interest that is actually causing him pain and suffering. Bol Bol shouldn't have to be a professional basketball player if he doesn't want to be, height or no height.

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yeah, it is something that can work in college, maybe even EuroLeague (lots of their "centers" seem to be somewhat small, other than the promising future draft picks or failed NBAers).   The starting centers who make it in the NBA, are going to be the more athleticially advanced generally.  So, they probably can get away with it at times.  But, they cant afford to have bad shooting nights, or many medicore ones for that matter, they will not win the rebound battle.  

 

Tucker and Covington can play big at times.  But, Tucker is in his 30s, and he is going to age fast if he is the primary faux-center.  (and Wes Unseld got away with being a liberally announced 6 foot 7 center for years, but he was built like the stump of a sequoia tree, and for that matter once they teamed up with Elvin Hayes, instead of a 5 and 4, they were kind of both 4.5s, it seemed)

 

Most of the good Western teams have a quality center or power forward, other than maybe the Clippers.  And the playoff game speed, tends to favor big men, the longer it lasts.   Getting past the 2nd rd is against them.

 

Note: I have always liked Covington, and though it was a mistake for the 76ers to trade him for a Butler rental. Especially, since Simmons has less range on his shot, than my 40-something self out in the driveway shooting. :winkgrin:  (ok I don't have to shoot the ball over giant monsters to be fair) 

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8 hours ago, Badger said:

Note: I have always liked Covington, and though it was a mistake for the 76ers to trade him for a Butler rental. Especially, since Simmons has less range on his shot, than my 40-something self out in the driveway shooting. :winkgrin:  (ok I don't have to shoot the ball over giant monsters to be fair) 

Anyone would have trouble heaving a shot over Godzilla.

 

(I know what you mean, I just couldn't resist.)

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Course, the media that was skeptical, after 1 game beating the Lakers now love the idea.  But, you know, media.

 

The true challenge will be in a few weeks, when they are facing some teams a 2nd time with that scheme.

 

Ok, the true, true challenge will always be the playoffs, but anyway.

 

Note: And I am glad I don't play basketball, at 5"11, the Rockets would make me a center.  :rofl:

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