NBA 2014-2015 Season Discussion
- Thread starter Captain Clark Terrell
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That surprised me. Wasn't Cousins supposed to come back soon? With him back the Kings were going to be a good team again.
The Warriors keep on getting it done. 16 in a row with probably the Game of the Night in the NBA coming Tuesday against Memphis. Man who would have thought that would be a Marquee match up this early in the season.
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Much as I love Vivek's enthusiasm and winner mentality, his 4 on 5 defense scheme demonstrates he should stay far away from basketball decisions as possible.
Overall I disagree with Malone's firing--too quick on the trigger. But this happens all the time (Mark Jackson), so I only hope the front office of D'Alesandrio and Mullin don't have their heads up their asses.
That said I think Malone's end of game offensive schemes have cost the Kings a few games sans Boogie... but jeez given team history, maybe he should've been given a longer leash!
Kings. Meh.
Overall I disagree with Malone's firing--too quick on the trigger. But this happens all the time (Mark Jackson), so I only hope the front office of D'Alesandrio and Mullin don't have their heads up their asses.
That said I think Malone's end of game offensive schemes have cost the Kings a few games sans Boogie... but jeez given team history, maybe he should've been given a longer leash!
Kings. Meh.
The Warriors' and Grizz ascendancy to elite status in the west this season should not be a surprise. The W's were a comer last season and Memphis for the last few seasons. The western playoffs this season are going to be as much of a dogfight as they alsays are, but the chances of some new blood making into the NBA Finals has risen considerably.
Sounds like another situation, like Jackson's, where the coach is fired because management has lost confidence in him despite the team's (not too bad) record. Still, a surprise considering it is still so early in the season. Coaches usually get at least until the all-star break (unless your name is Mike Brown).
Adrian Wojnarowski also reported that Malone and management clashed over the acqusition of back-up point guard, Royce White, a player who is described in Bleacher Report as having "no interest in playing basketball". Then, per BR report, management pressured Malone to play White.
It's going to be interesting to see who is named new head coach (assuming Tyrone Corbin likely won't be).
Congrats to Kobe for pushing Michael Jordan down the all time scoring ladder a bit. I believe it is going to take Kobe's retirement and some time to pass (as well as some haters), before the level of his greatness can be assessed accurately.
Kobe might, and I say "might", catch Karl Malone, but I don't see any way he'll get Kareem's all time record. But barring injury, I do think Kevin Durant has a legit shot at the record one day. But injury will be a big factor. Kareem benefitterd from having a virtually unstoppable shot that didn't require quickness, extroidinary leaping ability, or explosiveness to shoot.
I hope he wasn't fired for refusing to do that thing. The thing is stupid, but it seems like the kind of thing you can humor an owner for for a game or two just to see how spectacular a disaster it would be. Given that I like the Sixers, I clearly root for beautiful disasters so I hope they try it.
Jabari Parker is out for the season. Who's the most likely candidate for rookie of the year now?
ETA: This is about the Sixers, so I assume no one wants to read it. But it's a good, more in-depth analysis from Grantland of what they're doing right (and, of course, what they're doing wrong but also how they're doing it wrong). I'll put it in spoilers. The Ignored Evolution of the Sixers
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I don't know what this writer was smoking when he wrote this, but it must have been some good s**t. This is the very definition of a team lacking in discipline, focus, fundamentals. This, as much as anything, to me, points up just how badly the Sixers want to lose games this season. When teams have young undisciplined talent, they usually turn to veteran coaches like Larry Brown, Hubie Brown, etc. This way, even if the team is losing, the young guys are learning how to play like winners. You don't tell a team like the Sixers to go out there and experiment.Alidar Jarok;10476685... said:
The writer apparentely needed to generate some traffic on the website and that's giving him the benefit of the doubt. He'd have done better with a Kobe bashing article.
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The aforementioned teams weren't openly tanking but all of them spent multiple seasons in the lottery before finally becoming respectable. I think you could make just as credible an argument for dumb luck in the draft, as skill, for these teams.
A culture that includes allowing young players to experiment in games as a group? Alidar, is this a Philly writer? He is reaching so far here that he may pop a rotator cuff.
It's Grantland, which seems to have a bit more stories about the Sixers than anywhere else, so it's possible some are. Although, in the grand scheme of things, there's still very few stories about Philadelphia (it's just there are essentially none elsewhere). But the fundamental point is that there's a difference between indifference and inexperience. There's no question the team lacks significant talent, but its mistakes point more to the latter (and the article discusses the reasons for thinking that in depth).
As pointed out, they don't have the worst point differential in the league (meaning there are teams that are less competitive). Considering they have essentially no offensive talent, that shows they have to make up for that in defense. If a team didn't care, you would think defense (which requires more effort and exertion) would be the first they'd give up on.
Now do they shoot too many 3's? Absolutely. They're 9th in attempts and dead last in three point percentage. But they're also dead last in two point percentage, dead last in free throw percentage (so driving to the hoop isn't so great), and have the most turnovers per game (so they probably screw up driving to the hoop). Finally, even though they take a lot of threes, they're also 9th in free throw attempts, which suggests they do drive to the hoop and draw fouls. They're just not making them. Once again, that shows they aren't very good, not that they don't care.
ETA: In other news, Reports are that Rajon Rondo is being traded to the Mavs for Brandon Wright, Jameer Nelson, and Jae Crowder. That's a big move. The Mavs were already contenders to begin with, but Rondo sets them high up there.
As pointed out, they don't have the worst point differential in the league (meaning there are teams that are less competitive). Considering they have essentially no offensive talent, that shows they have to make up for that in defense. If a team didn't care, you would think defense (which requires more effort and exertion) would be the first they'd give up on.
Now do they shoot too many 3's? Absolutely. They're 9th in attempts and dead last in three point percentage. But they're also dead last in two point percentage, dead last in free throw percentage (so driving to the hoop isn't so great), and have the most turnovers per game (so they probably screw up driving to the hoop). Finally, even though they take a lot of threes, they're also 9th in free throw attempts, which suggests they do drive to the hoop and draw fouls. They're just not making them. Once again, that shows they aren't very good, not that they don't care.
ETA: In other news, Reports are that Rajon Rondo is being traded to the Mavs for Brandon Wright, Jameer Nelson, and Jae Crowder. That's a big move. The Mavs were already contenders to begin with, but Rondo sets them high up there.
I know the NBA works in cycles but it seems like they more than any other sports league should just send the 16 best teams to the playoffs, no matter the conference. The West just got stronger today with the Mavericks agreeing in principle to a trade that would get them Rajon Rondo. Just when you think the west is hard, today it might have just gotten harder. Heck, the Warriors go on a 16 game winning streak and I think Memphis has the best record in Basketball now with their win last night. Sometimes life just isn't fair.
Sacramento: Coach was fine.
GET A F**KING BENCH!
GET A F**KING BENCH!
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You say you want an easier path to the Finals for your team? Gotta pay your dues.
And don't forget the Thunder are lying in the weeds and the Spurs. And now the Mavs are even better potioned to play spoiler. I just hope all this pushes the Lakers down into the league's bottom 5. We gotta trade Swaggy, he's killing us.
If you have some time, here is a great article on the battle between the Knicks and the Warriors to draft Steph Curry back in 2009. Besides the gamesmanship between the two, the article speaks glowingly, poetically, of Curry's game. Looking at him now, it's easy to see that he was a steal even at No. 7, in his draft.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/s...lay-in-new-york-but-fate-intervened.html?_r=0
You say you want an easier path to the Finals for your team? Gotta pay your dues.
And don't forget the Thunder are lying in the weeds and the Spurs. And now the Mavs are even better potioned to play spoiler. I just hope all this pushes the Lakers down into the league's bottom 5. We gotta trade Swaggy, he's killing us.
If you have some time, here is a great article on the battle between the Knicks and the Warriors to draft Steph Curry back in 2009. Besides the gamesmanship between the two, the article speaks glowingly, poetically, of Curry's game. Looking at him now, it's easy to see that he was a steal even at No. 7, in his draft.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/s...lay-in-new-york-but-fate-intervened.html?_r=0
Great article. Sometimes fate does work in mysterious ways, even though I found it rather interesting that Curry wanted nothing to do with the Warriors. Now he's fully engrained in this franchise as well as the community. I think it was Steve Kerr who said he was a better person than basketball player and that is so true. It's awesome to watch him every game and he is having an MVP year.
As for the team having it easy, no I know the west is hard but man there is such a disparity between east and west.
^I found that interesting, too. As a Curry fan, I'm glad he's playing in the Bay Area as opposed to New York.
--Sran
--Sran
Glad Kings could finally get back into the win column... 8 of 30 for Kobe, 7 of 14 for Swaggy. Lakers minutes management helped!
Of course, that win will likely be short-lived versus Golden State tonight.
Of course, that win will likely be short-lived versus Golden State tonight.
Swagalicious! 
I think it's a good time for bad teams to win. Hell, the Sixers beat the Heat.
I don't think the Lakers are better without Kobe, but I suspect that win will fuel Kobe haters in that debate.
You are so right. Over the years every time the Lakers have won a game without Kobe, the haters come out, as you see in the two posts above. They always conveniently forget that he was present for all of our most important wins over the years, including this short season in San Antonio and Houston. But what is distressing is that as presently constructed, the Lakers may be a tad too good to finish in the bottom five, but not good enough (in the west) to make the playoffs.
Swagalicious is Kobe hating? All righty then.
At this point, believe me, I know passive/aggressive Kobe hating when I see it. Nick didn't even have one of his better games Tuesday. The 3 point shooting was what won the game -- well that and the Warriors relaxing because guess who, wasn't playing.
Besides, you're a King's fan, why wouldn't you hate Kobe?
Me being a Kobe "hater" would be just like you being a Kobe "apologist". It makes no sense. My perspective just differs from yours, that's all...
Swagalicious was Swaggy's own invention, just like the Driving Miss Daisy nonsense. Is he a hater too?
Swagalicious was Swaggy's own invention, just like the Driving Miss Daisy nonsense. Is he a hater too?
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