2017-2018 NBA Thread

Game 1 of the season for Celtics and Gordon goes down!

Oh man... such a bad injury... worse than PG13's imo.

That was pretty nasty. I didn't realize it happened, saw players just walking away from him with their heads down and the crowd reacting. Knew it was bad then, then I saw the replay.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21064604/chicago-bulls-forward-bobby-portis-suspended-eight-games

Seems like a pretty small amount of games for what he did. If I were making the decision I'd at least say he doesn't set foot on a practice court until Mirotic does.

Hope Hayward has a quick recovery,

Im a lakers fan but the celtic lakers rivalry doesnt matter when it comes to shit like this

Yah that's a crazy situation. Hopefully they can come back from this. From what i understand it was just one punch, so that helps things out but damn, cracked jaw? Sucks.

Some of the more recent reports are saying multiple broken bones and a concussion. He'll have to go through surgery and wear a mask when he returns. I'm no fight expert, but that seems a bit more than just an angry punch. Guys get in a fight on the court and you get black eyes, maybe busted noses, but multiple facial fractures? Seems to me he really wanted to hurt him more then usual in this sort of situation.

Not that I'm defending Mirotic, sounds like he was the one instigating it and he should be punished too, but I've never heard of a punch like this in sports before.

On the plus side, this makes the Markannen pick look better. Doesn't hurt that he's draining threes, either.

Gotta get rid of Mirotic. The NBA now knows he has a glass jaw and it will be an elbow target.

OKC is really starting to look scary.

They are moving the ball like a championship contending team should. Melo has embraced the role of mostly being a drive and pop 3 or a spot up 3 and he got 28 at nearly 50% from 3 tonight doing that. Racked up 10 rebounds.

Adams, now that its not simply Westbrook and Adams as options, teams cant triple team in the post and he walks away with a 17-11 double double.

PG had a bit of an off night, but thats okay, that is the great thing about being a super team like this. You can have bad nights and still win.

Raymond Felton looks like he is back in 2012 in his first year with the Knicks. He looks rejuvenated and still very skilled, and is doing an amazing job at running that second unit.

And lastly, Wetbrook, who apparently by all analysts accounts, is sacrificing the most of his game in order to weave these other guys in... stil had 28 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds for his second triple double of the year of four games. I don't even know what to say about this guy anymore. This guy is a real life video game with cheat mode on... he's doing things i never even thought i'd see.

Yeah, Paul George, Carmello, and Westbrook all on the same court is scary. Only problem I see is that their lineup is really small, they're basically playing a small forward at power forward. Some teams might be able to take advantage of that. Wouldn't it be cool to see the Thunder and Warriors in the playoffs? That rivalry is getting almost as big as Warriors/Cavs. Man, the West is scary good.

OKC is actually the biggest teams in the league... rather, they were last season and while they no longer have DS or Kanter, Patterson and Johnson are actually taller i believe. Dakari is 7 and if im not mistaken Patterson is 6'11. and Melo is at his best as a 4 and is actually the average height (err, common, not average). But from the PG to Center positions, they only have one position that falls below 6'7, which is obviously Russ and Felton at the point.

Im not sure what you've been watching, but most teams have been playing general forwards as 4s. The old power forwards are no longer in the game, theyve been replaced by tall small forwards. Very few teams actually utilize the older model of PF and only one of them that i can think of, is in contention (Spurs) and OKC and the Warriors exploited the shit out of that model in the last two POs. OKC DID, but now that they moved Kanter and Taj thats no longer happening.

I didnt realize you responded in the other thread. So what im going to do is post the response here.

I can only go by what you've said. And so far you said he was overpaid, washed up, not worth the contract or roster space, etc. Im not sure how farther down you could go on a single player. You have continued to dismiss his role on the team and minimize what he brought to the table and how good they actually were almost solely because of him and Deng. And i know you keep saying youre not saying he was overpaid, but you've said everything but. Its kind of like saying "Hey i never said i don't like gay people... i just don't think they should have rights". You keep saying they should have gone with someone else, you expected someone else, they shouldnt have spent the money, etc. You're not saying it directly, but the details are. You're essentially scapegoating the Bulls problems onto Boozer. With a healthy Rose, Boozer would have been the finalist difference maker and well worth the cost. And reminder, everyone's justification for Rose getting MVP was that they were a lottery team without him, which was the biggest bullshit ive ever seen.

Chicago had a 3 big man rotation of Noah, Boozer and Taj. Taj often played with Boozer, in fact we saw years where Noah had to sit out for 20-40 games, maybe more, when these two played together more often than not.

Taj, was on the Bulls for his entire career until the OKC trade, so im not quite sure what you're talking about with him leaving. Whatever FA silliness he attempted, he still remained with the Bulls. So im going to assume you meant Ben Gordon in the second half of the paragraph? Ben Gordon was becoming one of the best SGs in the game when he pulled his FA stunt. He fit in perfectly with the Bulls system and players, sometimes this is how it works. Look at Lance Stephenson, same situation. Oddly enough, that is just how some players work.

I would not put him on par with Kobe, but he was definitely the next best upcoming SG and demonstrated a similar skill set to Kobe. The team would have been so much better with Gordon, they would have been serious. Even with the Rose injury they still would have remained conference contenders. Do you remember the Baby Bulls? Im getting the sense you don't actually remember watching them. The Deng/Gordon/Hinrich/Duhon/Thomas/Noah line up was very impressive and they were all developing quite nicely and together. Had they kept LMA instead of trading him in the draft for Tyrus Thomas, they could have been something else. But i actually get it. I saw TTs' HS scouting reports and highlights and i think the Bulls were a decade early in their consideration of him as a PF.

As for the last sentence, Boozer was a scoring option and Ben Gordon's contract was not reliant on him. The bulls simply didnt want to spend the money. While i do not remember all the details, having gone back and looked at their cap situation there was no reason they could not do both as they only had to reserve 2/3rds of Gordon's contract and it looks like he was a RFA, so the increase would not have happened for another year.

No it was Boozer, it was Deng and Boozer. But Boozer oddly enough, it turned to he was the glue to their defense. It makes sense when you view it as him being the most experienced and capable player on the team. If you want to blame anyone for not making it past the 2nd round, blame Rose. It was him being injured that caused them to never make the ECFs again.

This is what im talking about though, you guys completely degrade this guy and then put everything on him. You try to put something on him that was not his responsibility or not the kind of player he was. He was an old school PF, old school PFs need PGs to be most effective. This does not lessen his value and it does not suggest he is responsible when the team fails. You cant expect something of him that is out of abilities. We cannot even say this about noah, but again, had it not been for Deng and Boozer, they never would have done half as well as they did. As for the POs, no he had one bad year of four and again, he was an old school PF who needed an effective point guard for him to be fully effective.

This is what i see.

You guys thought you were going to get some ultra super star mega star player. Melo. Kobe. LBJ. One of like... five players that most likely would resign with their current team and if they didnt, the odds were stacked against you. So because this didnt happen and you ended up with "only" a top 3 PF in the game at the time, You became relentless in blaming Boozer for all the teams problems. when the reality of the situation was their decline was due to Rose being injured, and then the team not recognizing the severity of his injury and for some reason, decided not to trade him. As a result they had year after year after year of him being injured and the team essentially going to waste. If you want to blame anyone, blame the FO for not solving this problem. Big men like Noah and Boozer needed high IQ point guards and this is why they should have traded Rose for Rondo or what i thought they were going to do once they made it clear they were not trading Rose, and sign Nash. But you cant put any of the stuff you're attempting to, on Boozer.

The second they got that first medical report, they should have traded him.

But that's not the option they were left with and apparently Rose had no interest in helping the team get anyone else. The situation they were in was solving the Rose and rest of the team situation by bringing in another capable PG, or not... and they didnt and Melo would not have solved that problem. He probably would have made it worse. And Boozer was definitely in his prime when he went to the Bulls. 29, 30, 31, 32. This is the second 2/3rds of a players prime. It typically starts when they are 27 or 28. The idea of the prime is not when they score the most or when they produce the most, but when they are still physically capable of filling up a stat sheet, but they've added enough experience to recognize situations, sets, know players tendencies, etc.. Players primes typically end at like 32 or 33, maybe 34 if they are lucky.

All of those players were signed for different reasons and where all in very different situations.

Big Ben was brought in to be a defensive anchor and someone with title experience to help the Baby Bulls. But you knew what you were getting with him, he was not a stat monster and it was not a bad signing, a bit overpaid but thats it. Its also worth noting they got rid of him in that first year i think, maybe right after. He was also not brought in to put them over the top, rather round them out.

Ripp was someone they signed in the twilight years of his career, they knew what they were getting. Again, this is the kind of guy you bring in to bring in reliable depth to a contending roster, it was also not a bad contract. What was it? An MLE i think. If it wasnt it was right there in that area of 4 or 5 million. Pretty much what you'd expect to pay for, for an ncaa and nba title winning streak 3 shooter who was in his final four years or so.

Boozer was a top PF in the league in his prime at 29 years old and was a great signing. 14M/yr flat i believe it was, was still about 2/3rds of a max contract and really a steal for someone who is a great piece to the puzzle.

Wade, i have no idea. I think that was a last second decision made by a FO who liked the Chicago connection and for some reason didnt stick with their plan. Had they gotten him for like 10M or something, it would have made a lot more sense.

The point is they were all signed for various reasons and the only one that was a bad and questionable signing that didnt make any sense in terms of direction or roster, was Wade. You seem to take issues that are a result of a bad FO and are attempting to apply them to players. You can say you're not doing this all you want, but all of your criticisms are directed at the players or specifically, Boozer. When its not his fault they didnt bring in a better back up PG or trade Rose. You keep minimizing his role, when its pretty clear if you took him off that roster then the "Rose MVP justifications" would have been true, but for Boozer. His value extended WAY beyond some stats.

@kod:

I never said half the things you're saying I said, now you're just putting words in my mouth. This shows how much use it is arguing with you.

You do you simply don't directly say it.

The Celtics are 1st in the East so far.

http://www.nba.com/standings#/