NBA Season Thread 2013-2014

BQQ

shamrock55 wrote: »

Just thinking about Kd breaking the record for +25pts in a row which is some feat, it just got me thinking, who would you guys say would be top 10 players in nba at the moment, as someone who hasnt really seen much nba till this year, there are alot of players i wouldnt really know about
my top 10 from what ive seen would be

de rozan
kyle lowry
durant
paul george
james harden
dwight howard
lebron james
Noah
westbrook
stephen curry

You should give the Spurs a watch (They have the best record in the NBA.)
The Clippers are also pretty good.

I suspect your list might change after watching those two.

padraig_f

Read a couple of articles over the weekend about the Pacers loss of form (Zach Lowe, Bill Simmons), but still find it pretty baffling.

A lot of people seem to be pointing to the Danny Granger trade, but I don't really buy that. This is the NBA, trades happen. The Bulls traded Luol Deng, a leader on the team, and with the franchise for 9 years, pretty similar to Granger (and probably more central, as a starter). Noah in particular seemed cut up about it. But it didn't affect the attitude of the players.

If your team's identity is broken by the trade of a guy coming off the bench, it wasn't that strong to begin with. So that Granger trade to me seems a bit of a red herring.

Anyway, I just find the whole thing very puzzling. While I questioned the Pacers talent-level to win a championship, one thing that didn't seem in doubt early this season or last was their attitude and identity, but that seems to have gone now too.

shamrock55

BQQ wrote: »

You should give the Spurs a watch (They have the best record in the NBA.)
The Clippers are also pretty good.

I suspect your list might change after watching those two.

Yea i wish i could watch the spurs but the majority of their games are on too late , its mostly teams from the east that i watch due to the times games are on unfortunatly

buyer95

If I were to name my top 10 players in the league it would look something like this.

K.D
Lebron
Paul
Aldridge
T.Parker(not his best season but I think he still has a huge playoffs ahead of him, plus you can't do this list without a Spur! Melo, Boogie, Davis and Love have had career years, but their respective teams have all been terrible.)
Noah
Dirk
Dragic
Blake
George(on the strength of his play in the 1st half of the season, although I very nearly gave this last place to Al Jefforson)

padraig_f

Bulls Sign Ronnie Brewer

Cool, good to add a bit of depth to the swing position, which was a bit thin after losing Deng. Brewer played under Thibs a couple of years ago, so should be able to integrate quickly.

Paully D

padraig_f wrote: »

Bulls Sign Ronnie Brewer

Cool, good to add a bit of depth to the swing position, which was a bit thin after losing Deng. Brewer played under Thibs a couple of years ago, so should be able to integrate quickly.

Nothing to lose at all from this pickup, nice veteran acquisition who will be a help on defense if needed. A good security blanket in case of injury. Gibson seemed to be happy with the move anyway:

That’s my guy,” forward Taj Gibson told Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. “He’s a big guard, can defend multiple positions. He’s athletic and he’s a leader. He has been in the league a long time and has been through a lot with us.”

Good memories of the 2010-2011 Bench Mob too.

ButtersSuki

Been up to my eyes for a few days with work and projects and stuff so haven't had a chance to post in a few days.
Some thoughts:

Pacers freefall continues, they are in serious danger of a first round bump. I for one will wet myself laughing if that happens. Awaits explosion of the internet Part 1.

Atlanta could make the playoffs by accident. That will be tough for Danny Ferry to explain to his bosses.

Some strange choices in your Top 10s players lads (actually, not the first time I've asked this - are there any laydeez on here?)! At least some of you have come to your senses on the one and only John Wall......:D:D:D:):rolleyes:. Awaits explosion of the internet Part 2.

Was reading some stats last night whilst herself was watching some shoyte on tv. Chicago, a team renowned for D, are 26-2 this year when they score over 96 points.

Was also thinking with awards season starting pretty much now, we'll have to break out those start of year predictions soon..........

PizzamanIRL

In no particular order, players who are actually playing this season. Sorry Kobe

LeBron
Durant
Griffin
Aldridge
Love
Curry
Cousins
Paul
Davis
Dirk

BQQ

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Some strange choices in your Top 10s players lads (actually, not the first time I've asked this - are there any laydeez on here?)! At least some of you have come to your senses on the one and only John Wall......:D:D:D:):rolleyes:. Awaits explosion of the internet Part 2.

........

KaBoom!! :pac:

In fairness, nobody was saying John Wall was a top 10 player in the NBA.
We were saying he was in the top 10 point guards, which I think is pretty much a given at this stage.

padraig_f

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Was reading some stats last night whilst herself was watching some shoyte on tv. Chicago, a team renowned for D, are 26-2 this year when they score over 96 points.

They also force a slow pace, which is a bit of a factor here. Doug Thonus had a very good blog on it recently:

Why Derrick Rose turns the Bulls into championship contenders

Because they favour defensive rebounds and are good at getting back in transition, they force longer possessions on both ends. Probably explains why the Bulls tend do well against the talented but less well-coached teams (e.g. Warriors, Rockets), get them in a half-court and you force them to execute, whereas a team like the Spurs still do well against us.

Here are the pace stats (possessions per game) for the league:
http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/paceFactor

Interesting to see Miami down at the low end too.

buyer95

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Been up to my eyes for a few days with work and projects and stuff so haven't had a chance to post in a few days.
Some thoughts:

Pacers freefall continues, they are in serious danger of a first round bump. I for one will wet myself laughing if that happens. Awaits explosion of the internet Part 1.

Atlanta could make the playoffs by accident. That will be tough for Danny Ferry to explain to his bosses.

Some strange choices in your Top 10s players lads (actually, not the first time I've asked this - are there any laydeez on here?)! At least some of you have come to your senses on the one and only John Wall......:D:D:D:):rolleyes:. Awaits explosion of the internet Part 2.

Was reading some stats last night whilst herself was watching some shoyte on tv. Chicago, a team renowned for D, are 26-2 this year when they score over 96 points.

Was also thinking with awards season starting pretty much now, we'll have to break out those start of year predictions soon..........

Which of my top 10 would you take umbridge with? I should point out that I wasn't picking who I think are the most skillfull players in the league, if I was Melo and Cousins would both be ther, but rather the players do most to help their team win on a consistent basis. See Noah, imo the best defensive player in the league, his passing is insane and the Bulls entire offense runs through him. Dragic is another one I would presume you would question. His pick and roll game is devastating, his 3 point shooting has improved hugely, he is an exceptional finisher around the rim and has great toughness. Thats not even mentioning the fact that he is unguardable in transition. He has been 20/50/50 all season, joining an exclusive club who can count only the geat Petrovic as a member in the last 20 years per S.I.
I think leaving out Curry is borderline, I love the guy but when I look at that GSW team and then I look at their record I feel the team should have done a lot better, thus I have chosen a Spur, Parker as they have been consistently outstanding all season.

ButtersSuki

buyer95 wrote: »

Which of my top 10 would you take umbridge with? I should point out that I wasn't picking who I think are the most skillfull players in the league, if I was Melo and Cousins would both be ther, but rather the players do most to help their team win on a consistent basis. See Noah, imo the best defensive player in the league, his passing is insane and the Bulls entire offense runs through him. Dragic is another one I would presume you would question. His pick and roll game is devastating, his 3 point shooting has improved hugely, he is an exceptional finisher around the rim and has great toughness. Thats not even mentioning the fact that he is unguardable in transition. He has been 20/50/50 all season, joining an exclusive club who can count only the geat Petrovic as a member in the last 20 years per S.I.
I think leaving out Curry is borderline, I love the guy but when I look at that GSW team and then I look at their record I feel the team should have done a lot better, thus I have chosen a Spur, Parker as they have been consistently outstanding all season.

Ok, I'd question:
Dirk at this stage of his career - he's still incredible but on a slow downward slide and past his prime. Just to clarify, I'm a huge Dirk fan, just think Top 10 in the League right now is overstating his position.

And...waiting for the Internet to explode Part 3, I'd question Paul George right now for many reason: stats - they're not as great as you might at first think; Pacers decline - he has to take some of the flak for that; and finally, I don't think he's Top 10 in the League right now. That's pretty elite company and I don't think he's there just yet.

Who'd I replace them with from your list?

Love, Westbrook and maybe even Duncan (check his per 36min stats).

The scary thing for the rest of the league is the Spurs will have the best record in the league actively resting players. It's shocking how understated and underexposed the Spurs are. If any team deserves to have 2 players ranked in the Top 10 in the league, it's the Spurs.

For Forks Sake

:D:D

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2021864-pacers-fan-looks-for-paul-georges-missing-talent-with-craigslist-ad?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national

ButtersSuki

BQQ wrote: »

KaBoom!! :pac:

In fairness, nobody was saying John Wall was a top 10 player in the NBA.
We were saying he was in the top 10 point guards, which I think is pretty much a given at this stage.

I think (and I may be wrong on this) that whole argument started because someone said he was an All Star calibre player and someone else said he wasn't even Top 10 in his position. But I may be wrong....it's so long ago. Let's not drag it up again, please!

Dublin Red Devil

Need some help from Brooklyn tonight.

Paully D

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Was also thinking with awards season starting pretty much now, we'll have to break out those start of year predictions soon..........

The below are mine. I was very Bulls centered and the Rose injury put paid to that after a few weeks unfortunately.

Playoff teams:

East: 1) Bulls 2) Heat 3) Pacers 4) Knicks 5) Wizards 6) Cavaliers 7) Nets 8) Hawks
West: 1) Clippers 2) Thunder 3) Rockets 4) Spurs 5) Warriors 6) Grizzlies 7) Timberwolves 8) Trail Blazers

Surprise team (good): Wizards
Flop team: Nets

Champions: Bulls over Clippers

MVP: Derrick Rose
Rookie of the Year: Victor Oladipo
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard
Sixth Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford
Comeback Player of the Year: Derrick Rose (John Wall if it was to be someone who I haven't picked for something else)
Coach of the Year: Doc Rivers
Executive of the Year: Daryl Morey

For Forks Sake

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Was also thinking with awards season starting pretty much now, we'll have to break out those start of year predictions soon..........

Very Bulls-centric on my part, obviously before Rose got broken. Doesn't detract from the fact that most of it is horribly, horribly wrong.

Playoff teams:

East: 1) Heat 2) Bulls 3) Pacers 4) Nets 5) Knicks 6) Cavaliers 7) Wizards 8) Hawks
West: 1) Thunder 2) Rockets 3) Clipperss 4) Warriors 5) Spurs 6) Grizzlies 7) Nuggets 8) Pelicans

Surprise team (good): Pelicans
Flop team: Lakers (too obvious?)

Champions: Bulls

MVP: Derrick Rose
Rookie of the Year: Victor Oladipo
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard
Sixth Man of the Year: : Harrison Barnes/Klay Thompson, depending on how they start lining out.
Comeback Player of the Year: Greg Oden (now that's optimism)
Coach of the Year: Thibs
Executive of the Year: Masai Ujiri

Nuri Sahin

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

What a line up tonight. Can't wait for tomorrow night too since I'll be in the Garden.

I'll just mention a couple categories since I'm not arsed with most of them.

Champions - Chicago Bulls

About time they had some luck in the Playoffs in relation to injuries unlike in the previous couple of years.

MVP - Derrick Rose

Stuck $100 on him being the regular season MVP @ 10/1 at any rate, my one and only season long bet in fact.

Well, about that...

PizzamanIRL

^

Didn't get much of a run for your $100

Should be a minimum playing requirement. No hope of that though.

Dublin Red Devil

The bulls with a fit Derick rose would probably be leading the East right now

buyer95

Calipari to become the Lakers head coach at the end of the season is a done deal, says Rex Chapman.

shamrock55

How would you guys rate demar derozan for the raptors?

buyer95

buyer95 wrote: »

East : 1. Bulls, 2. Pacers, 3. Heat, 4. Knicks, 5. Nets, 6. Cavaliers, 7. Wizards, 8. Pistons
West : 1. Clippers, 2. Spurs, 3. Rockets, 4. Thunder, 5. Warriors, 6. Timberwolves, 7. Grizzlies, 8. Mavs

Surprise team(good) Mavs
Flop team: Nuggets

Champions : Rockets over Bulls

MVP: Chris Paul
ROY: Victor Oladipo
DPOY: Lebron James
6th man: Jarett Jack
Comeback POY: Dirk Nowitzki
Most Improved: Anthony Davis
Coach of the year: Doc Rivers
Exec. of year: Daryl Morey

I did a decent job calling the West, except for the Timberwolves, East is a different story! Dirk as comevack player, Daryl Morey as exec. and A.D as most improved all look decent shouts. Calling the Mavs as a surprise good team, and the Nuggets as a flop team was also correct. Rockets over bull, yeah I regret that one!

Nuri Sahin

I think it just proves how highly we all rate Thibs most notably that the Bulls feature so heavily in the pre-season predictions.

Nuri Sahin

Hawks down a handful in the fourth, a loss would keep the Knicks playoff chances alive. Pistons win.

Meanwhile, the Nets are up a point at HT down in Miami, while the Spurs are being stomped on by the Twolves..

Nets win. Plumlee with the monster block on LeBron at the death to win it and the season sweep is complete. Damn impressive.

ButtersSuki

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Nets win. Plumlee with the monster block on LeBron at the death to win it and the season sweep is complete. Damn impressive.

See LeBitch's reaction? Yeah, you get no calls.....lolballs.:rolleyes::D

It doesn't make up for the like 8 travels per game the refs let you away with or when you went like 25,000 minutes last year without a foul called against you.

Nets laying down a marker for Miami by sweeping them. Would be a horrible match-up for Miami size wise if they get them in the Play Offs, but the Nets will likely have to go through the Bulls first...and I'd fancy the Bulls in that matcvh-up.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Ok, a couple of caveats on this. I'm making these based on all teams and players going injury free, which of course won't happen.

MVP Kevin Durant. Hear me out on this one. Firstly, he shot 50-40-90 last year (which is insane) and became only the sixth player to join that club and he did it with the second highest ever ppg output after Larry Bird. He was only pipped at the post for a fourth scoring title by Melo in the last few games of the scoring title (which would have been his 4th straight). His defence and his rebounding have improved, as have his steals and assists per game. Throw in the fact that Westbrook will be out until Christmas means he'll have most of the offence running through him and he could really be the runaway leader in the scoring title by Christmas. I'm not saying he's better than LeBron, but LeBron will likely suffer some voter fatigue this year as he did in the year Rose won and that coupled with Durant's output I think will push Durant over the line.
Coach of the Year This one is always a lottery, but I'm going to go with Mark Jackson or Eric Spoelstra on the sympathy vote for the last two titles.
Defensive Player of the Year Now that he's not sulking it'll likely be Dwight Howard.
Most Improved Player Eric Bledsoe, partly as he'll see so much more minutes and the ball than he did last year.
Rookie of the Year Given the amount of injuries to the Top 10 picks in this bracket I think there are only two real contenders - Victor Oladipo and Kelly Olynyk. Both will get big minutes this year (crucial for any ROY candidate) and both have the game to impress. I think Oladipo's stats will be better as he's playing a relatively easier position to shine in and the offence will be going through him but as a Boston fan I'm excited by what I've seen of Olynyk. Oladipo will win the award I think, but my money is n Olynyk to have a better NBA career.
Sixth Man Award going to put a cat amongst the pigeons on this one and go for AK47 (if he gets enough minutes) or Tyreke Evans (if Evans plays the 6th Man role)
Eastern Conf. Champs Chicago if they stay healthy. Next up Indiana. Then The Nets or the Heat.
Western Conf. Champs GSW if they stay healthy - yes, I'm serious! Next up the Spurs, then OKC, then Houston. No team needs all their team healthy more than GS for this to happen but I genuinely think they have a shot if they do. The thing that gives them the edge over SA is youth and legs. I think OKC have blown their chance with the Harden trade, I really do.


Think that's it! I await the derision......;)

Good and bad. I'm flipping glad I put my injury caveat in there!

KD will be MVP so I got that right.

Coach I got horribly wrong. Spo hasn't done anything and Jackson has managed to turn gold into pooh.

I do think Bledsoe was on track for most improved before he went down injured (check his stats) - and indeed Dragic's improvement can be seriously linked to the minutes he gained from Bledsoe's absence.

Rookie? No-one called MCW so think we're all done on that.

Sixth Man - no idea where tis is going except it's not going where I predicted.

Defensive player - as above, a bit of a lottery this year.

Happy enough with my Conf. Calls though very disappointed with how little the Warriors have improved. The rest are pretty much in order as expected.

Dublin Red Devil

"Get that outta here" Well done Mason.

padraig_f

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

"Get that outta here" Well done Mason.

That was beautiful, rejected by the rookie.

padraig_f

Should be good....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ_JCC4LUAY

While Lebron is whining about legitimate blocks, it'll be a reminder of a time when guys used to really hit.