The ILF-ILNBA Basketball Thread

[rustywire]

Another #1 wasted on Cleveland. No way will he stay, whoever it is.
Cleveland: 4 #1 picks in 11 years...zero championships.

They'll be in the lottery next year, too...looking for that 5th #1 pick who will be counting down the days to free agency.

Franchise should be renamed the Leaveland Outtaheres

LOL I'm such a dick about sports.
I have to watch games alone because I always cross someone else's line with my hatin' ass trashtalk.
The season is barely open a week and I was o u t raged for no good reason.

Earlier tonight the Wolves had blown a late lead to the Blazers...and were down by 2 in the final minute...where a sequence of 4 horrific officiating blunders kept them from forcing OT, with repeated interruptions to the action for review (deemed inconclusive) meanshile at home everyone can see in HD. Blown calls, no-calls on resulting jump balls, and an inadvertent whistle all had the crowd raining ire soon as the buzzer rang. Had to temper my mouth after hearing upstairs neighbors start pacing around ahaha

[rustywire]

Walked away from laptop & passed out before hitting Submit
Amending my (pre, pre-season) 2016 playoff picks in lieu of news and the eye-test in this first week.

West: Warriors, Thunder, Clips, Spurs, Rockets, Grizz, Pels, 8th is going to be Jazz or Wolves with the clusterfawk Kings en tow.

The east is def tricky:
I surely expect to see the Bucks, Heat, Hawks, Cavs, Bulls, Raptors, Wizards, Celtics, Pistons & Pacers in the playoffs but that's 10 teams

Lebron's back, new coaches and trade/free-agency moves...I'm looking forward to an open season of shuffling seeds

Here's hoping this one wont be plagued by horrific injuries. I feel like Jabari Parker, Julius Randle & Wes Matthews have returned to action too soon.
But fwiw, if the Warriors stay healthy it looks like they will repeat. IDK why coaches aren't trying to do what Delly figured out last season (by necessity); you've gotta be physical with Curry and force the ball out of his hands. Bump&wear on him, frustrate with 94 ft of D. Otherwise he's too comfortable knowing how quickly he can globetrotter dribble for separation & get off (and hit) *bad shots* like they're automatic. In transition? It's all but guaranteed buckets.

[D.o.S.]

the problem is that few teams have a 1 who can dedicate all their energy to keeping up with Curry on the defensive end of the floor, let alone the guys who can actually guard him... and since so much of the modern day offense is geared around PnR with the point guard, an exhausted PG is going to grind these teams to a halt. His passing tends to get underrated, too (actually Golden State has good passers at every position, less so when they lost David Lee).

[pelliott]

Cleveland also had the advantage of having Tristan Thompson, who is about as good as any big in the league at being able to switch onto the ball handler on the perimeter and defend effectively and he and (engaged on defense) LeBron can effectively swallow up a PnR offense at the end of a close game since either of them can envelope both players.

Curry is playing out of his fucking MIND right now, though.

[MSUsousaphone]

Jury will be out on my Pels. So many injuries. Team won't be whole for a while. It all depends on how big of a hole they're in when their players get back to 100%.

Season is very similar to the Saints.

[odontophobia]

Meanwhile....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBKrVKrmBQ[/youtube]

[D.o.S.]

Yeah Drummond will be the first guy to finish a season with 16 boards since Rodman on the Bulls.

[hbombgraphics]

Yeah Drummond will be the first guy to finish a season with 16 boards since Rodman on the Bulls.

yeah for crashing the boards!!

rebounding is a lost art.....hope it makes a come back.

[julius_deane]

I wonder if this has more to do with the way the defensive rules have changed the NBA overall than with guys not caring about rebounding as much, i.e. more guards/wings get rebounds.

[D.o.S.]

It's part of the rules and it's part of the Thibs/Doc Rivers defense that became so popular over the last few years -- where the bigs don't ever crash the boards, at all.

[pelliott]

When's the last time the league has been this competitive top to (sans 76ers) bottom? So many fun teams.

[D.o.S.]

Also Colangelo being forcibly imposed by the NBA signals that the league is totally done with Philly's bullshit, which is nice.

[bigchiefbc]

The east is absolutely insane. There are 10 teams within 2 games of the number 1 seed!

[hbombgraphics]

tha balance is great and I am pumped that the East is back
the situation in Philly is such a nightmare
I think you have a cheap owner and a GM that is too smart for his own good.

Went to a game there last year and it's still a cool place to watch hoops, they had some talent but the assembly of that team is ridiculous.

[D.o.S.]

The thing is, though, what Philly's doing isn't all that different from what many other teams have done before, and often in much more nefarious circumstances (see: Supersonics, Seattle). The problem lies in the brazen attitude and the fact that everyone and their mother uses the phrase "tanking" now.