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Official NBA 2013 - 2014 Season Thread
- Thread starter Gabe
- Start date
Three-team trade between Celts-Warriors-Heat.
Kinda sucks to see Jordan Crawford's fantasy value melt away like that.
Kinda sucks to see Jordan Crawford's fantasy value melt away like that.
Did you watch the game?
The Heat give zero fucks right now. They played zero defense all game. Their preferred style of defense is EXTREMELY active and exhausting on the players, and it's been pretty rare this season that they've gone all out to preserve energy for the playoffs. I think LeBron is remembering just how grueling it was playing two very physical 7-game series' in a row.
It'd be silly to give anyone but him the MVP this year, and this is coming from a very devoted LeBron fan.
It most likely looks like it will be the Miami Heat vs The Indiana Pacers for the Eastern Conference Finals and the Thunder vs the Blazers or the Warriors
In the Finals I see the rematch of Heat vs Thunder..
I want the Thunder to win but realistically, If the Heat stay healthy, they WILL win again....Durant and Westbrook arent enough.
In the Finals I see the rematch of Heat vs Thunder..
I want the Thunder to win but realistically, If the Heat stay healthy, they WILL win again....Durant and Westbrook arent enough.
This is probably too wordy for this thread but YOLO!
I watched the Rockets totally melt down offensively against the Thunder a few nights ago, and it was just really tough to watch. I'm fascinated by Houston's offense's contempt for mid-range shots and the math that backs up more three pointers, but I do wonder how they're supposed to adapt if shots stop falling? The math suggests that three pointers are, on average, a better bet than mid range shots, but that's the catch: probability plays out over large sample sizes and not large ones, and even a seven-game playoff series isn't a particularly large sample size. If Houston goes cold for three games, how can they avoid losing at least one of them to keep themselves in the series? It's not like their three-point shooters are all that great: Harden, Lin, Garcia, and Beverley all shoot below 35% 3ptFG, and I wonder how much of that is because the threes added with higher volume are probably lower quality shots than normal threes? It also sucks because Dwight Howard isn't quite the load in the low post he was when he peaked in Orlando, and he still gets into foul trouble all the time. The emergence of Terrence Jones helps a bit, as he's spry and pretty skilled (with 36 and 11 tonight!), but I feel like Houston still has to work out coping with shots not falling, or more generally, their offense getting stagnant when the game slows down. Houston is unbearable to watch in the half court sometimes, and as much as I like James Harden, he occasionally disappears out there and Houston totally falls apart when that happens.
Anyway, quicker thoughts:
- Anthony Davis is a beast. I can only imagine what his ceiling is. I can see him being a destructive defensive big like prime Garnett or Olajuwon (though probably not THAT good).
- I can't wait for Heat-Pacers.
- I really hope the Spurs reach the Finals again even if last year was a year where every domino fell into place before the last 28.2 seconds of Game 6. Duncan is my favorite player ever, and seeing the championship slip from his grasp *while he was on the bench* is still a painful thought.
- Kevin Durant is a monster, but I hope he's not worn out come playoff time with such a heavy burden because of the Russ injury.
- Jason Kidd is hilarious.
I watched the Rockets totally melt down offensively against the Thunder a few nights ago, and it was just really tough to watch. I'm fascinated by Houston's offense's contempt for mid-range shots and the math that backs up more three pointers, but I do wonder how they're supposed to adapt if shots stop falling? The math suggests that three pointers are, on average, a better bet than mid range shots, but that's the catch: probability plays out over large sample sizes and not large ones, and even a seven-game playoff series isn't a particularly large sample size. If Houston goes cold for three games, how can they avoid losing at least one of them to keep themselves in the series? It's not like their three-point shooters are all that great: Harden, Lin, Garcia, and Beverley all shoot below 35% 3ptFG, and I wonder how much of that is because the threes added with higher volume are probably lower quality shots than normal threes? It also sucks because Dwight Howard isn't quite the load in the low post he was when he peaked in Orlando, and he still gets into foul trouble all the time. The emergence of Terrence Jones helps a bit, as he's spry and pretty skilled (with 36 and 11 tonight!), but I feel like Houston still has to work out coping with shots not falling, or more generally, their offense getting stagnant when the game slows down. Houston is unbearable to watch in the half court sometimes, and as much as I like James Harden, he occasionally disappears out there and Houston totally falls apart when that happens.
Anyway, quicker thoughts:
- Anthony Davis is a beast. I can only imagine what his ceiling is. I can see him being a destructive defensive big like prime Garnett or Olajuwon (though probably not THAT good).
- I can't wait for Heat-Pacers.
- I really hope the Spurs reach the Finals again even if last year was a year where every domino fell into place before the last 28.2 seconds of Game 6. Duncan is my favorite player ever, and seeing the championship slip from his grasp *while he was on the bench* is still a painful thought.
- Kevin Durant is a monster, but I hope he's not worn out come playoff time with such a heavy burden because of the Russ injury.
- Jason Kidd is hilarious.
I just want to emphasize this right here. The hype was for real, everybody. This guy has a chance to be as good as Duncan, frankly. The way he completely commands the paint on defense and he's only 20 fucking years old is unreal. His offense has already started to get better, and if he can become more consistent in this post we could be looking at an all-time great. I'm really excited about this guy.
aware
The kid put on another dominating performance tonight and I don't think people talk about him enough. Averaging 1.5 steals with 3.0 blocks is sick at any age, let alone 20. If the Pelicans decide to commit to him as their primary center - which makes sense with Ryan Anderson and considering Davis' insane PER at that position - then he's fast becoming the best center in the league. Even at the stacked power forward position, he's already top 3. Only concern about him may be his health.
The kid put on another dominating performance tonight and I don't think people talk about him enough. Averaging 1.5 steals with 3.0 blocks is sick at any age, let alone 20. If the Pelicans decide to commit to him as their primary center - which makes sense with Ryan Anderson and considering Davis' insane PER at that position - then he's fast becoming the best center in the league. Even at the stacked power forward position, he's already top 3. Only concern about him may be his health.
Michael Carter-Williams in a losing effort tonight: 13/22 for 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals.
Oh, and here's something else to think about: one of the best big man prospects in the NBA along with Anthony Davis is on the 76ers and hasn't even played because of an injury. Oh, and the Sixers are on their way to a really bad record which means they'll have a pretty high pick in the next NBA draft which happens to be one of the most ridiculously loaded drafts in the history of the sport (or so it seems, so far.)
So, imagine for a moment: Michael Carter-Williams, Andrew Wiggins/Jabari Parker/Julius Randle (whoever they get in the draft), and Nerlens Noel. They have very trade-able pieces like Evan Turner and can probably accrue even more draft picks.
In just a year's time we could be looking at a dream team of prospects that will suck for a while but have a massively high ceiling.
Oh, and here's something else to think about: one of the best big man prospects in the NBA along with Anthony Davis is on the 76ers and hasn't even played because of an injury. Oh, and the Sixers are on their way to a really bad record which means they'll have a pretty high pick in the next NBA draft which happens to be one of the most ridiculously loaded drafts in the history of the sport (or so it seems, so far.)
So, imagine for a moment: Michael Carter-Williams, Andrew Wiggins/Jabari Parker/Julius Randle (whoever they get in the draft), and Nerlens Noel. They have very trade-able pieces like Evan Turner and can probably accrue even more draft picks.
In just a year's time we could be looking at a dream team of prospects that will suck for a while but have a massively high ceiling.
There are reports saying Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker are thinking of not joining the draft yet. Obviously it's a ways away but losing those 2 kind of hurts the depth of the class with the Wiggins hype falling off a bit.
Interesting. Parker seems to be the closest to a consensus #1 pick of anyone in the draft, although if this Embiid fellow decides to come out I would not be surprised at all to see him go first given how rare athletic seven footers are
Why are the Pacers so based?
Also, here's a gif Knick fans can enjoy:
Also, here's a gif Knick fans can enjoy:
Definitely, while I'm glad that more and more people are viewing narrative-based MVP candidates with contempt (with Derrick Rose, RIP, being the most recent example) and rightly say LeBron should be winning it every year unless someone hijacks it, I think sometimes the media gets into "LeBron is untouchable" mode when Durant has pretty clearly outplayed him this year, in my opinion. LeBron is only the best player in the world when he's trying.
Also averaging 31 PPG on 50% shooting is absurd