Official NBA 2010-11 Season Thread

Just letting you nabs know.

Huy opened up our Fantasy League, let him know if you wanna join...
 
I predict that the Lakers will triumph once again in the West, pardon a season ending injury to Kobe/Gasol. However, the East seems interesting with the young and talented Miami Heat and the old and wise Celtics. Whoever wins, it is sure to be a great and historic season.
 
Yo can we have a bit of life in our Fantasy league when it starts.


That shit be MAD BORING!!! just setting your lineup and that's it...Let's have some smack talk or w/e, seriously...If not, then why bother having a Fantasy League if you ain't gonna enjoy it?
 
Stoudemire was amazing against the Celtics

knicks definitely have a playoff team, no thanks to Rautins.
Unfortunately, they are looking at first/second round exits this year and miss out on this year's draft, which is ironic because it is super deep in terms of PG talent: Irving, Barnes, B.Knight, Perry Jones, Josh Selby and Corey "Cojo" Joseph (repping Tdot bitches!). Instead, you have Raymond Felton and TDouglas (who has no concept of how to run a team... or anything) for the future.

Too bad Donny Walnuts went balls out for 2010 and pretty much gave away all of their assets other than Gallo (poor man's Peja ceiling)/Chandler, and is hesitant to even trade those two. So even if they land Melo or CP3 this year via trade, you are looking at a seriously flawed team.
 
I didn't know that we had an NBA thread here in Smogon. Yeah, I'm a bit late, and even worst, a year late.

Anyway, I believe the LA Lakers are gonna win the Western Conference since the Lakers don't have much competition. And also their squad seems too much to handle. With addition of Blake and Barnes, tough combo and great secondary unit that looks like a starting lineup.

Lakers(user) has good points on Miami Heat. You can't win a championship with just big names. They still have some problems on their squad.
 
Dr.Dodgeball said:
and great secondary unit that looks like a starting lineup.
Hold up. Wouldn't go that far. The Laker's bench outside of Odom still lack depth.

Tsunami said:
Knicks definitely have a playoff team, no thanks to Rautins.
Possibly. All depends on the play of Raymond Felton. Their division is pretty bad so I can see them as a lower seed at the highest.
 
You do realize Barnes and Blake are coming off the bench right? Along with Brown... most teams would kill to have depth like that, those players just need to start accepting their roles and play well off the bench
 
Lakers said:
You do realize Barnes and Blake are coming off the bench right? Along with Brown... most teams would kill to have depth like that, those players just need to start accepting their roles and play well off the bench
Barnes is offensively limited. Brown's actually had some strange shooting games this pre-season but I'm still under the assumption that he's just another athletic guard. Steve Blake is okay.. but that's not something a bunch of teams would 'kill' for. They'd kill for Lamar Odom. That's it.
 

Kevin Garrett

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Gordon Hayward with 26 pts on 8/10 FGs and 10/11 FTs in a win over the Lakers. I was really impressed. It's a big step up over Kyle Korver, who frankly could not defend and only shoot an open jumper. 6-0 preseason doesn't say much, but just by the way the Jazz play together, I'm optimistic about the upcoming season. I don't agree with a lot of the predictions that they will be a 6-8 playoff team. They will be 2-5 if everything goes smoothly.
 

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Matt Barnes started last year for a pretty good Orlando team. Steve Blake has been a starter in the NBA for most of his career, including his best years leading a good Nuggets team in 07 (after he came over from Milwaukee) and good Blazers teams in 08 and 09.

The only team that I would say has a better second unit than the Lakers is the Mavericks. And maybe the Rockets. A good bench isn't glamorous, but it is something that a lot of teams wish that they had, or would 'kill for'. Take Memphis for example. Their starting five can run with the best of them in the NBA; the reason they are a mediocre (at best) team is because their bench is astoundedly terrible.
 
Barnes is offensively limited. Brown's actually had some strange shooting games this pre-season but I'm still under the assumption that he's just another athletic guard. Steve Blake is okay.. but that's not something a bunch of teams would 'kill' for. They'd kill for Lamar Odom. That's it.
Yeah, I think the Lakers didn't sign Barnes to shoot hoops. Matt Barnes is known to be a very reliable defender and, I might say, a good rebounder. Blake would be a good back-up for Fisher. He's a good PG. As for Shannon Brown, he still needs to improve more on the dribbling and shooting. Don't know if the hand injury is gone or not. But S. Brown's role is not hard. Just dunk easy baskets.
 
Yeah, I think the Lakers didn't sign Barnes to shoot hoops. Matt Barnes is known to be a very reliable defender and, I might say, a good rebounder. Blake would be a good back-up for Fisher. He's a good PG. As for Shannon Brown, he still needs to improve more on the dribbling and shooting. Don't know if the hand injury is gone or not. But S. Brown's role is not hard. Just dunk easy baskets.
You said it was a starting line-up and a bench other teams would kill for.

To assess the first statement, Barnes and Odom are offensive liabilities. This is obvious because people sag off of them or purposely leave them open in half-court sets. Two offensive liabilities mean your offense will have less spacing.

Is it a team others would kill for? No. It's a great bench in the Lakers' perspective; however, their only real weakness is creating off the dribble. Luckily, they will have Odom or some other guy they will definitely run their offense through hence why I said 'lack of depth'.

A good bench isn't glamorous, but it is something that a lot of teams wish that they had
Steve Blake - standard point guard that can pass and spot-up.
Barnes - defender and rebounder
Shannon Brown - Defender and dunker
Odom - Most versatile and depth.
Theo Ratliff - Blocks shots.

That is not the best or even second best bench alone. It's a standard bench. Everybody has a single role while one guy has multiple roles and depth.
 
DR, if you're gonna say that isn't the best bench in the league, you're gonna have to provide examples. The only team I could remotely think of is Orlando maybe (with Bass seeming to finally earning minutes).

The fact is, 3 of their bench players would be starters on many other teams. Blake is a decent Point Guard who can run an offense and knock down clutch shots, Barnes is a good wingman who has started for the Suns and Orlando in recent years and Odom would be a borderline All Star on most teams.

Barnes and Odom are offensive liabilities? Is that some kind of joke?
 
HeroMasaki said:
Barnes and Odom are offensive liabilities? Is that some kind of joke?
DerrickRose said:
This is obvious because people sag off of them or purposely leave them open in half-court sets.
Watch both Celtics series if you don't believe me.

HeroMasaki said:
The fact is, 3 of their bench players would be starters on many other teams.
You could say the same thing for a bunch of other teams. A lot of benches have a standard point guard, a defender, and a guy to run your offense through; at least on average.

Examples:

Celtics: Shrek and Donkey now along with O'Neals.
Magic: Self-explanatory as you said.
Mavericks: Jason Terry, Beauboia(sp) (very aggressive scoring guard), Brandon Haywood (great rebounder and shot blocker with length).
Nuggets: When healthy, they have a solid bench. Chris Andersen (#2 in shot blocking 2 years ago), J.R. Smith, and Ty Lawson (aggressive guards who can pass and shoot).

I can go on and on. It's pretty clear the Lakers are standard fair. That's good even for them considering the kind of bench they had last year.

Of course it can be a starting line-up. Anything can theoretically be a starting line-up, but when you only have one guy to run an offense through... that's the LeBron show but 100x worse. Can you imagine that for 48 minutes? Just because it can be imagined as a starting line-up does not mean it would be an effective one.
 
The Celtics are literally one if not the best defensive team in the league... Yes, guys like Shannon Brown and Odom did get shut down and did absolutely nothing against the Celtics but you cant label them average just because they do nothing against the Celtics
 
Nowhere did I label them bad. I'm saying since they are offensive liabilities, it will be very hard to score for them against MOST half-court teams for 48 minutes.
 
DR, if you're gonna say that isn't the best bench in the league, you're gonna have to provide examples. The only team I could remotely think of is Orlando maybe (with Bass seeming to finally earning minutes).

The fact is, 3 of their bench players would be starters on many other teams. Blake is a decent Point Guard who can run an offense and knock down clutch shots, Barnes is a good wingman who has started for the Suns and Orlando in recent years and Odom would be a borderline All Star on most teams.

Barnes and Odom are offensive liabilities? Is that some kind of joke?
Blake, as far as I'm concerned, really isn't that much better then Fisher (Aaron Brooks became well-known for beating the crap out of Fisher in 2009, but he also beat the crap out of Blake when we faced Portland), Barnes is as said a complete offensive liability as well as a total punk (there is a reason he hasn't been on any team for any major length of time), and Odom is decent. Lakers bench isn't bad, but not one of the best. I mean, from my perspective, the Rockets bench this preseason destroyed the Pacers starters, and while it's preseason it says something, not to mention Hayes, Lee, Lowry, and Budinger all could theoretically start.
 
I'm trying to give the Miami Heat a chance, so I will hold off ultimate judgment on their championship chances.. but so far it really looks like I overrated their perimeter play and underrated the importance of interior defense and rebounding.

They really, really have a thin frontline. I've researched the history of the likes of Bosh, Haslem, and Joel Anthony defensively. Bosh, while was a superstar in Toronto, completely disappears against the Celtics. He's probably more of a sidekick than a real 'superstar' (the media really loves to portray him as a top power forward but in all honesty, he's more of a Dirk than a Tim Duncan).

Overall, I rate their championship chances low at this very moment. You can't have Udonis Haslem and guards being your leading rebounders even in pre-season. That's not a good sign. That's a sign that tells me Phoenix Suns basketball which we all know is a joke.


If they do have success, LeBron and Wade would have to score like, 30 points a piece. I really doubt they can overcompensate for this type of weakness. Even Jordan needed defensive rebounding.
 

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