NBA Regular Season 2015/16

padraig_f

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4faGW099qYM

Paully D

Great to have it back!

Prediction time before the big tip-off.

East

1) Cavs
2) Bulls
3) Hawks
4) Heat
5) Wizards
6) Bucks
7) Raptors
8) Magic

Cavs over Bulls.

West

1) Warriors
2) Spurs
3) Thunder
4) Rockets
5) Clippers
6) Grizzlies
7) Pelicans
8) Jazz

Warriors over Spurs.

Surprise Team(s) (good): Orlando Magic/Milwaukee Bucks/Utah Jazz
Surprise Team(s) (bad): Indiana Pacers (maybe not enough of a surprise to include here, but I think they'll do well to win 30 games hence selecting them)

Finals: Cavs over Warriors
MVP: LeBron James
Rookie of the Year: Jahlil Okafor
Coach of the Year: David Blatt/LeBron James :pac:
Defensive Player of the Year: Kawhi Leonard
Sixth Man of the Year: Joakim Noah
Comeback Player of the Year: Chris Bosh
Most Improved Player: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Executive of the Year: John Hammond

NufcNavan

NufcNavan

30 wins? Really? Pacers were injury plagued all of last year, missing their franchise player and still managed 38 wins!

Pacers this year will be give or take a .500 team this year IMO

That_Guy

Still new to basketball but I know enough that my choice in team (Nets) was solely based on black and white uniforms due to my allegiance with Newcastle United.

And like Newcastle United, they will take a few scalps throughout the season but will flatter to deceive in every other game and pick up a ridiculous amount of injuries as is evident with Jarret Jack allegedly out already against the Bulls tomorrow night.

Watched 3/4 of their pre-season which was hit or miss really. Shane Larkin despite his height looked impressive and is almost playing with a chip on his shoulder it seems.

Brook Lopez looked impressive. His stature is monstrous.

Amazing insight.

NufcNavan

That_Guy wrote: »

Still new to basketball but I know enough that my choice in team (Nets) was solely based on black and white uniforms due to my allegiance with Newcastle United.

And like Newcastle United, they will take a few scalps throughout the season but will flatter to deceive in every other game and pick up a ridiculous amount of injuries as is evident with Jarret Jack allegedly out already against the Bulls tomorrow night.

Watched 3/4 of their pre-season which was hit or miss really. Shane Larkin despite his height looked impressive and is almost playing with a chip on his shoulder it seems.

Brook Lopez looked impressive. His stature is monstrous.

Amazing insight.

The Nets will live and die by the health of Brook Lopez, which is bad more than it is good.

Morrison J

Rockets over 54.5 wins looks an absolute lock to me.

D2D

Jesus, it's felt like an absolute age but it's finally back!!

3 games for tonight: Pistons/Hawks; Cavs/Bulls and Pelicans/Warriors

Cavs/Bulls and Pelicans/Warriors are both on BT as well tonight (12 and 2.30 starts)

Oh and my predictions:

East

1) Cavs
2) Bulls
3) Hawks
4) Raptors
5) Wizards
6) Bucks
7) Heat
8) Pacers

West

1) Warriors
2) Rockets
3) Spurs
4) Thunder
5) Clippers
6) Grizzlies
7) Pelicans
8) Jazz

Surprise Team(s) (good): Bucks & Jazz for me. Maybe the Kings at a stretch as well.
Surprise Team(s) (bad): I can see the Mavs really struggling this year. The West is stacked and the Mavs roster is a complete mesh that doesn't really seems to fit together.

MVP: LeBron
Rookie of the Year: Mudiay
Coach of the Year: David Blatt
Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Davis
Sixth Man of the Year: Enes Kanter
Comeback Player of the Year: Has to be Bosh
Most Improved Player: Greek Freak
Executive of the Year: David Griffin (I'm a homer on this)

Overall prediction: Cavs over Warriors in 7

NufcNavan

Pacers are not going to lose more games than we did last year, when we had no PG, George Hill out for a big chunk of the season, and a disinterested-when-he-wasn't-hurt David West. Monta Ellis is a plus too.

I say we get the 5 seed, upset the 4, and get beat by Cleveland in a fun but ultimately disappointing playoff series. That's my (very) optimistic outlook. Realistically we are 7-8 seed.

The Kings will be fun to watch on and off the court. So many characters on that team, with so much potential for it to go tits up as well.

Leaders of the following.

Points per game- James Harden
Rebounds per game- Drummond
Assists per game- Chris Paul
Steals per game- Westbrook
Blocks per game- Drummond

M.V.P.- LBJ
R.O.Y.- Herzonja
D.P.O.Y.- Drummond
6.M.A.- I. Thomas
M.I.P.- Meyers Leonard

Paully D

Terrible first few minutes but a nice first quarter for the Bulls overall, hopefully they keep it going for the next 3. The way too early signs look good for the bench with Noah and Gibson bringing serious energy. There'll be Dunleavy to add to that in a few weeks too. Hard to see (m)any teams rivaling that bench if everyone stays healthy.

Oh man, Rose is hurt again. Please, please don't be bad. It could well just be nothing but it's hard not to be immediately pessimistic given his history. EDIT - he's back about 5 minutes later. Phew!

Ridiculous flop by Mozgov which the refs buy to give Mirotic his 3rd foul :rolleyes: One of the biggest floppers in the league at it already.

It's going to be hard to get used to the Bulls constantly pushing the ball on offense :pac:

NufcNavan

McDermott looking good.

NufcNavan

Enjoyable opening game.

Nice to see Pau stuff Lebron's ****

Paully D

Fell asleep just before the 4th quarter (I'm not in basketball mode with regards to sleep yet :pac:) so just catching up now.

Nice way to start things off. The Bulls are a very deep team if everyone can stay fit.

Noah did nothing offensively but was huge bringing the energy off the bench defensively and finished joint top on the boards for the Bulls. The injury didn't look great but Hoiberg says the trainers told him it's a bruised knee so hopefully he won't miss too many games. Gasol did nothing offensively either but came up big defensively on LeBron at the end which was a pleasant surprise considering how poor defensively he was last year. Mirotic really looked like he belongs as a starter last night too.

The one statistic that really stood out to me was Derrick Rose only taking 2 3-point attempts. It used to drive me crazy last year when he'd pass up the opportunity to drive into the paint to take on a long range FG or 3-pointer (he was shooting almost 6 3-pointers per game last season), but he was driving at the rim a lot more last night so that's very encouraging and something I hope continues. I also hope he'll start to get foul calls when he drives as officials are always reluctant to give him calls for some reason IMO.

Nets tonight at their house. It'd actually be only the 2nd time in 13 years the Bulls would start 2-0 if they win. :eek: It'd be huge for Chicago if Noah could play some minutes as I think he'd be a big advantage in keeping Lopez as quiet as possible offensively. Bookies make the Bulls 5.5 point favourites for what it's worth.

padraig_f

Good start to the season. I wanted to win this one, it doesn't mean anything in the bigger scheme of things (both teams were rusty as hell, which always happens at the start of the basketball season), but just for the new team to get some positive feedback.

One good sign I saw was Rose repeatedly attacking Mo Williams off the dribble, which he was sometimes reluctant to do against guards last season. Good indication of his confidence and how he feels physically.

limerickfc

Delighted it's back, been such a long summer

padraig_f

Rose highlights...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f66Ma3-HwbE

The new court is nice as well.

padraig_f

Lebron highlights



Seriously...I'd be a bit concerned about that, how much of the back-treatment he was doing. I know it's more of a precautionary thing than anything else, but it's game 1 of the season, and I didn't see him doing it that much before.

That_Guy

There were a few other Cavs players doing the same too IIRC. Bit early to jump to any conclusions. Both teams looked extremely rusty and lethargic for the most part.

NufcNavan

Ryan Wolstat ✔ @WolstatSun
Even though Scola starts, minutes likely split pretty evenly between he and Patterson all year, barring Bennett takeover.
10:49 PM - 28 Oct 2015


This tweet makes me think the Raptors are really going to suck this year.

That_Guy

So.... the Nets are even worse than I thought. There is absolutely nobody outside to shoot for 3. Movement all over the place.

Boo!!

Paully D

So many sloppy ****ing turnovers. New offense or not, the vast majority of them have been absolutely avoidable. Look after the ball FFS.

You might want to close out on Lopez there too, Pau. :rolleyes:

That_Guy

I retract my earlier statement. Hooray for Brooklyn!!

EDIT: I had my doubts about Shane Larkin but he really offers a lot going offensively. Defensively he will cost us a lot of points due to his height disadvantage.

Rondae Hollis Jefferson looks very lively and is having some outstanding minutes.

Hopefully they keep the intensity and aggressiveness after the break.

Paully D

Excellent 3rd quarter for the Bulls after an abomination of a 2nd in which they gave up 36 points. Finish the job now.

That_Guy

Nets haven't scored a 3 pointer all night. :eek:

NufcNavan

Pacers Raptors has been horrible to watch tbh.

NufcNavan

I already hate Jordan Hill. Awful player.

limerickfc

I don't even care about the win in just delighted KD came through the game fine

me and the biz

The splash Cousin arrived against the Clippers!
https://streamable.com/ar4s

4/5 from 3 pt range and his usual 32 points and 13 rebounds. Also had his usual 6 fouls and a few tantrums thrown in.
https://streamable.com/i4yz

Kings bench vastly improved and kept it close til the end. They may quietly improve their win column but I don't see them breaking 40 wins, 35 wins maybe. Blake played unreal, his mid range shooting is day and night from a few years ago.

Josh Smith didn't really add anything last night, had 1 point and 5 turnovers. Lance didn't get enough minutes to impact the game too much.

Paully D

Great to see Chris Bosh back in action.

That_Guy

Brooklyn @ Spurs is an absolute masterclass in how to miss shots... over and over again.

NufcNavan

Anyone catch OKC @ Magic? Only the 2nd set of games but that game will be hard bet this season. What a game!