NBA Regular Season 14/15

NufcNavan

Yeah good game folks. We rode the bench a little too long. Copeland got us back into the game but made a series of really bad plays once we got level.

Butler was very good and Rose has had better days. The Bulls depth should help them win out in the East though.

padraig_f

Yeah, I knew I read this somwhere, from Brian Windhorst:

“There’s a growing tension … between the players and coach David Blatt. There’s been a disconnect there that has been increasing. It may be something the organziation has to deal with either giving David Blatt a vote of confidence, or maybe looking at the position again … They have completely abandoned his offensive system. Lebron has taken over point guard without even consulting David Blatt.”

LeBron and David Blatt Not Getting Along, Could the Cavs Fire Him?

ButtersSuki

And don't forget LeJon has only signed for 2 years…………..you know he'll likely to bolt if things aren't to his liking in that time.

ButtersSuki

Boogie throwing down another monster dunk last night amongst the trees.

Itssoeasy

Just watched the pacers Bulls game. Jesus I wouldn't have liked to be a bulls fan watching that.

Paully D

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 37m37 minutes ago
Lost in Jimmy Butler's incredible season: He's committed only 41 turnovers playing the most minutes in NBA. LeBron James has 111.

GoldFour4

Paully D wrote: »

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 37m37 minutes ago
Lost in Jimmy Butler's incredible season: He's committed only 41 turnovers playing the most minutes in NBA. LeBron James has 111.

Does Jimmy act as playmaker for the Bulls? Don't get to see much Bulls ball so don't really know. Anyway was looking at the stats for turnovers this season on basketball reference and it kinda seems clear that the more a guy acts as the "main guy" and handles the ball the most, he's gonna have a lot of turnovers too.

James Harden and Stephen Curry are both having MVP calibre years and they're both in the top 8 with Harden leading the league.

BQQ

Paully D wrote: »

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 37m37 minutes ago
Lost in Jimmy Butler's incredible season: He's committed only 41 turnovers playing the most minutes in NBA. LeBron James has 111.

malistheman wrote: »

Does Jimmy act as playmaker for the Bulls? Don't get to see much Bulls ball so don't really know. Anyway was looking at the stats for turnovers this season on basketball reference and it kinda seems clear that the more a guy acts as the "main guy" and handles the ball the most, he's gonna have a lot of turnovers too.

James Harden and Stephen Curry are both having MVP calibre years and they're both in the top 8 with Harden leading the league.

+1 Mal.

Not saying Butler isn't having a great year, but that stat is meaningless.
Lebron handles the ball a lot. Butler doesn't.
Rose does that on the Bulls team and has a turnovers per game slightly less than Curry (playing less minutes).

Paully D

Fair (and very good) points lads. Admittedly I just saw the stat and said I'd throw it in here without really considering any underlying factors. It is a fairly meaningless looking back at it :pac:

Bulls streak snapped by the Nets last night. Lopez was superb. Our home court advantage is surprisingly non-existent so far this season at 8-6. Strange as we are usually so good at home.

GoldFour4

Durant back for the Thunder tonight against Phoenix, disaster!

Paully D

New LeBron article from ESPN detailing his knee soreness, that video with D-Wade and his commitment to the Cavs:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12104838/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-misses-second-straight-game-knee-soreness

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James will miss his second straight game because of soreness in his left knee, sitting out his team's game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. But he wants it known that he'll be around for the Cavs for the long haul.

James was a late scratch Tuesday because of the knee, which previously caused him to sit out a game Dec. 11 in Oklahoma City. He re-aggravated it on Christmas Day in Miami while jumping over a row of courtside seats while trying to track down an outlet pass from Kevin Love.

Even though James was not required to speak to the media because he was out of the lineup, he made himself available to answer a slew of questions in the locker room prior to the Bucks game about his health and the controversy surrounding his commitment to staying in Cleveland beyond this summer.

"It's been hurting pretty much all year," James said of his left knee. "I've been playing with it and it goes away and comes back. So, the one in Miami kind of re-aggravated it when I came out of the game in the third quarter."

James said he was hopeful he could play Friday in Charlotte, but if not, is looking towards Sunday at home against the Dallas Mavericks. He said he is not concerned about the injury in the long term.

"I'm not concerned because all the tests and everything I've done with the doctors, everything has come back negative," James said. "So, I got 41,000 minutes in my career including the playoffs. You (try to) drive that car in the winter time (and see how it feels)."

As for his future with the Cavs, James addressed a video showing a conversation between him and Dwyane Wade after the Cavaliers' loss to the Heat on Christmas Day that went viral. In the video James can be clearly heard telling Wade, "We're going to reunite again and do some bigger and better things, alright?" Some websites interpreted James prefacing that statement to Wade with the caveat, "If we aren't better this year ..." however the audio is muffled.

"I've seen the clip just like you've seen the clip," said James. "I don't know exactly what I said at the beginning, either. I know I said, 'We'll get back together and do some bigger and better things,' but it had nothing to do about basketball. I mean, if was going to tell him that, I'd tell him the night before. Come on, guys. I'm not stupid. I know I didn't go to college but I'm not stupid. I wouldn't say that on Christmas with a hundred cameras around. I would have told him the night before at his house.

"But, it's just me so I get it. I get it. But it had nothing to do with leaving here and reuniting with him. It had everything to do with just talking about other things more than just basketball. Everybody gets so involved in basketball, our friendship, obviously, you guys know, is bigger than basketball. So, you know, our last four years couldn't be bigger and better even if we did get back together. But, whatever. It's crazy."

James also reaffirmed his commitment to Cleveland.

"I'm here to build something great in the present and in the future and that's the reason I'm back," James said. "I got no other reason to have to continue to talk about things that's so outlandish. I'm here. This is where I'll be and this is where I'm comfortable at."

When asked about James' investment in the Cavs, coach David Blatt said James' intentions are obvious to him.

"I know why LeBron James came back to Cleveland and I know what his commitment is to this team and to his teammates," Blatt said. "And I also know exactly what he wants to do here."

James admitted that his patience has been tested through the Cavs' underwhelming start, including three losses in their last four games. "My tolerance for patience is not that great and it's something I knew I had to work on," James said. "Especially coming here, it's going to be the biggest test of my career just being with a bunch of young guys and helping them understand what it means to have a professionalism and a work ethic every single day, so that's been testing and I understand that.

"Obviously with my injuries and other guys being out and us not capable of what we're capable of playing to (it is testing), but the inconsistency I kind of knew (would happen). I figured it would happen. And that's why I try to stay patient. I try to not have my body language be as bad as it can be sometimes. I just try to keep my communication up, keep my spirits high and understand that once we get fully healthy - obviously without Andy (Varejao), we know he's not going to make a return this year - but if we keep going through the process, we'll be fine."

Beyond James' knee, the Cavs were also without Kevin Love (back spasms) and Shawn Marion (sore left ankle) on Wednesday, making for another challenging night for Cleveland while playing the second leg of a back-to-back.

James said that he and the team simply must stay the course.

"Just stay even keel and knowing that there's always sunshine on the other side of the mountain, man," James said. "I don't get too high or too low, especially in the NBA season. It's too long, it's too many emotions, it's too many things, it's too many storylines that if you let yourself get involved in it too much that it can bother you mentally and I've been able to just stay away from it."

PizzamanIRL

0.7 seconds left in the Spurs v Pels game and I'm 90% sure Asik just tipped the ball into his own net to send it into OT which the Spurs went on to win. It's the year of the Spurs already

Actually I'm not so sure now looking at this but he certainly helped it go in

https://vine.co/v/OwUmj60u3vX

Andy_rse

Hi,

Apologies if this post doesn't suit the thread, thought it would be as good a place as any.

Does anyone have any material that would be good for a novice to look at to get a better understanding of the game? I can watch a game and have a decent understanding of whats going on but would like to know more about the likes of player positions and roles, different plays, more in depth rules etc. Just to broaden my knowledge.

Cheers

GoldFour4

Andy_rse wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if this post doesn't suit the thread, thought it would be as good a place as any.

Does anyone have any material that would be good for a novice to look at to get a better understanding of the game? I can watch a game and have a decent understanding of whats going on but would like to know more about the likes of player positions and roles, different plays, more in depth rules etc. Just to broaden my knowledge.

Cheers

Hey,

Apologies for the title of this website but it gives a good brief introduction to the positions. Positions breakdown

This is actually quite a simple little breakdown of the rules that you'll see in action when watching a game. Not sure if you wanted something more complex. rules breakdown

The NBA also has this on its website which is a lot more in depth on some of the more complex rules in place. complex rules explained

Finally, the salary cap and salary rules in place in the NBA are quite complex to follow. It leads to some strategic decisions being made by teams when it comes to future salary implications. This link is extremely detailed and I really wouldn't advise reading it all unless you want to confuse yourself. It's quite handy though if you don't understand the details of some trades/signings etc. Larry Coon salary cap faq . Larry Coon is a legend for putting that together and keeping it up to date.

Hope those links help and don't cause too much confusion!!
They might be of use to other users too btw!

Andy_rse

Thank you, that looks like some good information there. I'll stick the head in this later or maybe next time I'm watching a game.

If there's any other information that you or anyone else thinks "noobs" should know to make the game more enjoyable then fire away (though I don't really want to take this thread way off topic)

Thanks again!

buyer95

Andy_rse wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if this post doesn't suit the thread, thought it would be as good a place as any.

Does anyone have any material that would be good for a novice to look at to get a better understanding of the game? I can watch a game and have a decent understanding of whats going on but would like to know more about the likes of player positions and roles, different plays, more in depth rules etc. Just to broaden my knowledge.

Cheers

Zach Lowe of Grantland writes on the game better than anyone I have read. He has an unbelievable knowledge of the whole league, and I always feel like I've learned something after I read his articles. Check out his podcast "The Lowe Post" which is also good.

GoldFour4

Don't know whether people saw this or not... Phoenix was beating Philly handily in the closing moments of their game and Zoran Dragic was in the game. Zoran got his first NBA basket off an and 1 from Goran. Pretty awesome feeling to get to assist your brother in scoring his first NBA basket.

http://gfycat.com/BleakWarmheartedIcelandichorse

NufcNavan

Stacey King was showing Evan Turner some love on the Bulls broadcast. There was my annual reminder of why Stacey King is the absolute worst.

D2D

Very sad news yesterday that Stuart Scott, ESPN anchor, died aged 49 after battling cancer for the 3rd time:(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9cSX5XPY70

“When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”

padraig_f

Cavs trading Dion Waiters for JR Smith (!) and Shumpert. Interesting. OKC involved too, seems like Reggie Jackson on the way out there.

Report: Cavs trade Dion Waiters to Thunder, get Knicks’ JR Smith and Iman Shumpert

buyer95

GM LeBron James has traded Dion Waiters to the Knicks for JR Smith. JR has given us nothing for a year and a half, good riddance! Knicks will tank rest of season away now(which they were doing a good job of anyway!) you'd imagine now, Melo's mythical troublesome knee is unlikely to get better this season(why should I, he might as well rest up, then chase empty wins.) Expect him to be ruled out for season. For Cava I don't like this at all, what they needed was a rim protector. Their unlikely to get that now after trading away a crucial trade asset. Who else can the Cavs trade to get a rim protector now? Your not going to parlay that into anything like a decent centre. Cava don't really improve much here, plus Smith is a borderline cancer, is a minus on defense and like Waiters is extremely streaky.

Bertser

Looks like Waiters is actually going to OKC and Reggie Jackson is going to the Knicks. Shumpert and JR Smith to the Cavs, Dalembert and a couple of Cavs bench players in the talks as well.

EDIT: Now it's uncertain about Reggie Jackson, loads of information spewing out

padraig_f

@HowardBeck: If the Knicks just unloaded JR Smith, as @WojYahooNBA is reporting, I put Phil Jackson in the lead for executive of the year.

GoldFour4

Woj hasn't a clue where Reggie Jackson is headed, loads of details to emerge it would seem!

padraig_f

Did that trade just break twitter?

buyer95

Word now is Knicks acquiring 3 players in this trade plus s future 2nd rounder. 3 new players all to be waived tomorrow. Jackson is not coming to New York. Phil has completely blown it up, and I think he's done the right thing. Woj, saying that OKC are sending a protected first rounder to Knicks. Could Reggie be staying put? Surely not, that would mean OKC paying the tax, which they never do.

d'Oracle

Getting rid of Waiters and getting in J.R.
The Cavs are now on the ROFLcopter.

NufcNavan

For all the hate of JR Smith, he would have a minimal role as a shooter/bench scorer. The Cavs can start Shumpert for defensive purposes and then keep JR in the game if he's hot. Its better than what they currently have, and you have to take into effect that they'll be playing with Lebron. So that will help them tremendously.


And on another point, what about the Pistons. They were 5-23 before the Josh Smith waive, have won 5 straight, including 3 on the road, by an average margin of 18.2. That is an insane turnaround.

d'Oracle

NufcNavan wrote: »

For all the hate of JR Smith, he would have a minimal role as a shooter/bench scorer. The Cavs can start Shumpert for defensive purposes and then keep JR in the game if he's hot. Its better than what they currently have, and you have to take into effect that they'll be playing with Lebron. So that will help them tremendously.


And on another point, what about the Pistons. They were 5-23 before the Josh Smith waive, have won 5 straight, including 3 on the road, by an average margin of 18.2. That is an insane turnaround.

JR will shoot 4 threes in a row.
LeBron will start on him.
JR will shoot LeBron.
With a gun.

ahhhhh who the hell are we supposed to trade jeff green to now

BQQ

NufcNavan wrote: »

For all the hate of JR Smith, he would have a minimal role as a shooter/bench scorer. The Cavs can start Shumpert for defensive purposes and then keep JR in the game if he's hot. Its better than what they currently have, and you have to take into effect that they'll be playing with Lebron. So that will help them tremendously.


And on another point, what about the Pistons. They were 5-23 before the Josh Smith waive, have won 5 straight, including 3 on the road, by an average margin of 18.2. That is an insane turnaround.

Amazing what getting rid of josh smith can do. Hawks are flying too. :pac:
Pistons at San Antonio tonight should put things in perspective though.

I've never really believed in GSW as title contenders, but the way they've been tearing it up, I'm actually starting to buy it. Of course one injury to curry and it's up in smoke, but till then . . .

D2D

Genius move from Phil Jackson for actually getting a team to take JR Smith and his contract, that and Shumpert gone clears up a ton of cap space now.

Very happy that we got Shumpert (and that incredible high top). Realistically, he has to start 2 guard for us now. JR Smith, I genuinely don't know what to expect. If his mind is in it, he's a handy player to come off the bench, maybe spark a run and get you points. If his head isn't in it though is the problem. Still though, can only wait and see what happens.

If there's ever a more fitting description of Dion and his time at the Cavs it's last night, minutes to go to tip off in front of his own city and he gets traded

Mongo

As a Knick fan I like this trade. Offloading JR is amazing in itself! I like Shump but unfortunately he's collateral damage in this one. Next year there should be enough room to sign 2 genuine superstars!

buyer95

[quote="Mongo;93712941"Next year there should be enough room to sign 2 genuine superstars![/quote]

Lol

ButtersSuki

Mongo wrote: »

As a Knick fan I like this trade. Offloading JR is amazing in itself! I like Shump but unfortunately he's collateral damage in this one. Next year there should be enough room to sign 2 genuine superstars!

Yup…..just like when you signed Melo and STAT. That worked out well didn't it?

The Knicks are in such disarray at the moment they'll fu*k up whatever trade they try to make or whoever they sign…..even with Phil Jackson at the helm.

padraig_f

Great game between the Rockets & Bulls last night. The Bulls had had a few bad games over the Christmas, and Rose in particular was playing poorly, not aggressive at all, shooting jump-shots and missing most of them. They'd narrowly scraped some wins against poor oppostion, and lost by 20 to the Nets.

I wasn't optimistic about this one at all. They came out sharp though, Gasol had 18 first-quarter points against Howard, Rose was being aggressive again, attacking the rim. First half finished 62-62, which I kind of find amazing because at any time in the last few years, if the Bulls had conceded 62 in a half, they'd be down 15 or 20. Obviously you'd like to concede less than 62, but it's good to know we can match these high-scoring teams now.

First half, Hinrich was on James Harden most of the time, and Harden shot 7-13. Second half they put Butler on him, and if you want to see a defensive masterclass, watch Butler on Harden in the 2nd half of that game. Harden went 0-9 in the 2nd half, and the guy who has the most free-throw attempts in the league shot just 3 free throws all game, one of which was a technical. Just an awesome defensive performance from Jimmy, and great discipline to do it without fouling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P03_L7_paSY

The Bulls trailed with 5 minutes to go (Rockets played a really good game, their fast-break causing the Bulls defensive problems), but the Bulls went on a 19-5 run to finish the game with offensive contributions from Rose, Mirotic, Butler & Gasol. I thought this was one of the best performances of the season, because the Rockets were playing at a high level themselves. Good to get back on track after a few flat games.

NufcNavan

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Yup…..just like when you signed Melo and STAT. That worked out well didn't it?

The Knicks are in such disarray at the moment they'll fu*k up whatever trade they try to make or whoever they sign…..even with Phil Jackson at the helm.

First year and all, but NO ONE but Phil gets away with the year the Knicks are having in NYC.

Mongo

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Yup…..just like when you signed Melo and STAT. That worked out well didn't it?

The Knicks are in such disarray at the moment they'll fu*k up whatever trade they try to make or whoever they sign…..even with Phil Jackson at the helm.

I'm just saying that trading the cancer that is JR away and clearing house a bit more is a good move. No need to be condescending about it. I'm trying to be optimistic about the future. Yeah it's a mess within the organisation but hopefully they can get it together on the court.

the appeal of ny with phil at the helm could well attract players provided there idiot owner keeps his mouth shut there is potential there at least

me and the biz

The tank is fully on in NY it seems! Must be for bench strength for the Cavs, thinking longterm to the playoffs and long difficult slug match series that a spark off the bench (such as JR can produce) be all the difference.

Also Waitors going to the Thunder had my scratching my head. With Russy, Durant, Reggie Jackson and now Waitors.. lots of shooting. And I can see Waitors causing problems there.

For Forks Sake

Joey Blue Rodent wrote: »

the appeal of ny with phil at the helm could well attract players provided there idiot owner keeps his mouth shut there is potential there at least

More chance of me being drafted #1 next year than Dolan staying quiet.

ButtersSuki

Mongo wrote: »

I'm just saying that trading the cancer that is JR away and clearing house a bit more is a good move. No need to be condescending about it. I'm trying to be optimistic about the future. Yeah it's a mess within the organisation but hopefully they can get it together on the court.

Wasn't being condescending dude, chill a little.

If you've read any of my posts on the Knicks you'll know who I believe is the main problem. Given the history of the organization in the last 15-20 years but in particular say the last 5, they will struggle to attract the really top talent - despite having Phil and despite it being NY. The fallout of not getting the the really top talent is teams then tend to overpay for the next in line/tier 2 players - and the cycle perpetuates itself.

Melo is not a guy you can build a team around so I'd ask the question why bother keeping him? Apparently he's the only player on the roster not on the trade block, but I really don't see the point ion keeping him at this stage. He's only going to get older from now on and his productivity will most likely be in year on year decline from now on.

They should just blow the whole thing up and start accumulating picks like Boston and really build.

me and the biz

Melo is a once in a generation talent though, you hold onto him as long as you can. He's and unreal shooter and a good few players (Paul Pierce for example) name him as a nightmare player to guard. Amare's contract is impossible to shift with his injuries so that's only reason he's still there

ButtersSuki

me and the biz wrote: »

Melo is a once in a generation talent though, you hold onto him as long as you can. He's and unreal shooter and a good few players (Paul Pierce for example) name him as a nightmare player to guard. Amare's contract is impossible to shift with his injuries so that's only reason he's still there

Read back on my previous posts on Melo fro last season and the season before that and you'll see why he part of the problem and not the solution on this time. I'm not retyping all of the reasons - as there are so many.

I'm not debating he's not a supremely talented individual - but that's actually the core of what's wrong. He's an individual, not a team player, and certainly not a guy you can build a team around. That manifested it clearly last summer when he had a real chance to join a contender (Chicago) but took the money and adulation in NY instead of buckling down and really going for a ring under Thibs. We're not talking about a guy who was making a life changing financial decision here, we're talking about a multi-multi-millionaire. That decision spoke volumes about his "mé féin" attitude. Not even the most optimistic Knicks fan would have said last summer that the Knicks would be contenders this or for the next few years.

me and the biz

That's true actually I forgot about his offers during the summer. I do remember his reasons being Jackson and a longterm plan on NY but then again he has history of signing a large deal and forcing a trade.

me and the biz

Also a little off topic but might help others out who recently got a ps4 and noticed there's no league pass app.. from the NBA tech support themselves:

Hello,

The NBA Game Time PS3/PS4 application is available for International League Pass now, however you will need to create an account for either Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or Thailand. If you do not have one for these countries please follow these steps.

1) Go to USERS ---> CREATE NEW USER

2) Select the name you want under that user and select OK. Then select your newly created user, the PS3 will ask you to log out of your selected account, click YES.

3) Go to PSN and select SIGN UP

4) Click CREATE NEW ACCOUNT and follow the prompts
-Date of Birth
-Online ID (must be different from your current ID)
-Email/Password (If your Email is attached to your current ID you will need to create an account with a different Email)
-Name/Address (The address does not need to be a billing address and just needs to be in the country listed above)

5) Once you created an account, go to the Playstation Store and do a search for NBA Game Time and download the application. Then you can use the application and sign into the application with your NBA Game Time username and password.

If you are still having issues with logging in please let us know.

Thank You


NBA GAME TIME MOBILE Support

GoldFour4

Tim Mozgov to the Cavs for a first rounder and other trade assets. Via Marc Stein.

Much needed for the Cavs. High price though.

NufcNavan

We live in a world where Timofey Mozgov is worth two first round picks.

jalock20

This might be jumping the gun a little but, Pistons are on a bit of a streak? Playoff chances? Maybe sneak in as an 8th seed in a pretty weak Eastern Conference? I know they're 4 games back from it but they've offloaded Josh Smith which seems to have been a positive. More momentum and an injury for Miami could see them sneak in? Tell me I'm stupid I've a feeling I could be on this haha!

ButtersSuki

NufcNavan wrote: »

We live in a world where Timofey Mozgov is worth two first round picks.

He is if he helps them win a Championship. Of course they overpaid but if he gives them the height and inside presence they need (esp. with Varejao out) and they win, then its a good move. In the NBA, if you're loaded talent wise in certain positions like the Cavs you have to win NOW, not build for the future.

I keep saying this folks, LeJon is on a 2 year contract. You can be sure Dan Gilbert and co. will do anything to win a Championship in that time. ANYTHING. I don't expect this to be the last move they'll make either before the Play Offs.