NBA Regular Season 2015/16

ButtersSuki

First time a coach whose team is leading their conference in NBA history is fired. Hmmm.

LeJon is uncoachable by all but a very few coaches - none of whom are available. He simply has too much power over the organisation and the staff, especially in Cleveland.

This kinda reminds me of his lack of humility and his selfish behaviour that eventually became "The Decision". Cleveland are saying LeJon wasn't consulted on this or the new hiring; thats done crock of sheeeeet right there! Neither the frying or the hiring happened without his approval.

I don't particularly blame Blatt, he was in many ways in a no win situation here...lose and he's screwed, win and it's all down to LBJ.

But....and I've been saying this for a while (and as recent as this week), that Cleveland team isn't built to win it all as the sum of the parts is currently less than the whole. They need to move Love at least, both for his sake and their own.

But here's another one for the Bird/LeBron debate.....did Bird ever behave like this? Seriously?

Carcharodon

I think everyone pretty much agrees Blatt was in a bit of a no win situation, ultimately it is up to him to control this team but nearly impossible when you have superstars like lebron calling the shots.
I am not a huge lebron fan in regards to personality due to the decision etc but he is by no means the worst, we always should take in mind what kind of fame he was introduced to at such a young age, I would probably be the Justin bieber of the NBA if I was him.

NufcNavan

Ok guys, who is taking ROTY? Towns or Porzingis?

Too late for the Pacers rook Myles Turner, but we have a very good player on our hands. Dropped 31 last night against the Warriors.

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

But here's another one for the Bird/LeBron debate.....did Bird ever behave like this? Seriously?

Can't imagine bird acting like that but he played under red Auerbach so it's not really a comparable situation in fairness

ButtersSuki

Valentina Raspy Tummy wrote: »

Can't imagine bird acting like that but he played under red Auerbach so it's not really a comparable situation in fairness

I think it's more than that though (Auerbach never coached Bird per se, he had a more GM type role, Bird played under other coaches). The point is despite the fact the Bird was clearly the best player on the planet circa 84-86 (3 consecutive MVPs, still the highest % of votes ever) he never threw the toys out if the pram when things turned bad for Boston AND the organisation itself was so strong and with so many strong personalities and legends of the game still involved with the club that kind of behaviour simply wouldn't be tolerated, regardless of who you are. It's a real "no-one is bigger than the team" philosophy, and no-one should be - except in Cleveland it seems.

ButtersSuki

A story that's quite reflective of how things are on Cleveland right now is according to numerous reports out of the US overnight (can't post links as I'm on the phone, not the most reliable sources mind, complex.com for example), when the Cavs players were called to a meeting to tell them Blatt was fired, a number of them thought it was to tell them Love had been traded. :rolleyes::eek:

ButtersSuki

Oh and in another piece of you couldn't make it up NBA-irony, there's nothing to stop Lue coaching the East in the All Star game. As the Cavs have the best record in the East, Blatt was in line for the gig. Truly daft.

ButtersSuki

Boogie goes for 48. Imagine what he could do motivated, on a good team and with a coach he respected? he's not entirely blameless, but my God he's talented - I've said this before on here, right now, he's the best big in the game.

Please Danny Ainge, make the trade......just do it....

ButtersSuki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Boogie goes for 48. Imagine what he could do motivated, on a good team and with a coach he respected? he's not entirely blameless, but my God he's talented - I've said this before on here, right now, he's the best big in the game.

Please Danny Ainge, make the trade......just do it....

celtics could throw there whole team and draft picks for the next 10 years at the kings and vivec still says no

NufcNavan

GSW hasn't played San Antonio or OKC yet. I think San Antonio has only played OKC once themselves. It's infuriating. In fact Monday's game will be San Antonio's only matchup with either of them for the next 2 months.

Yet between March 12 and April 12 the Spurs will play OKC and GSW a combined six times. As for GSW and OKC, they play each other 3 times in a 4-week period between 2/6 and 3/3, and never again the rest of the season. That's really stupid ass schedule making. These are the only 3 teams in the west that matter and for the first 5 months we get almost nothing. 11 marquee games and 9 of them are jammed into the last 2 months of the season.

NufcNavan

Great video. Lebron is a douche.

moneyman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Boogie goes for 48. Imagine what he could do motivated, on a good team and with a coach he respected? he's not entirely blameless, but my God he's talented - I've said this before on here, right now, he's the best big in the game.

Please Danny Ainge, make the trade......just do it....

Sorry Sukes but I'll have to disagree with the first part of that. Suggesting Cousins isn't motivated is crazy. Kings actually are a decent team by the way, we are just starting to gel (5 game win streak currently, with 4 of those against teams in playoff positions) and just got WCS back from injury which has made a massive difference to us defensively (we are 11-3 with Cousins and WCS starting). Finally, he may not be best buds with Karl, but he does respect him as he has said before. Their relationship is definitely getting stronger.

People make out that Cuz is some lunatic, he's not. It's just the same lazy, rehashed cliches that are constantly repeated, and then it becomes accepted (this is a general comment, not specifically aimed at you). He's emotional and gets technicals, but he's never had one issue off the court. In fact, he has a pretty stellar record off the court.

I agree though, he is the best big in the game, and it's not even a debate in my opinion. I watch every Kings game and he is an absolute freak, how someone that big and strong can be that nimble, agile and skilled is scary. He's also one of the best defensive big men in the league despite the narrative of national media types who apparently haven't bothered to revise their opinion of him since his rookie year. All the stats and advanced stats are there to back this up.

For January he's averaging 33/14. It will be a total joke if he doesn't make it to the all-star game.

We're not trading him by the way, he loves Sacramento and Vlade isn't stupid.

Felt good to get that off my chest!

ButtersSuki

moneyman wrote: »

Sorry Sukes but I'll have to disagree with the first part of that. Suggesting Cousins isn't motivated is crazy. Kings actually are a decent team by the way, we are just starting to gel (5 game win streak currently, with 4 of those against teams in playoff positions) and just got WCS back from injury which has made a massive difference to us defensively (we are 11-3 with Cousins and WCS starting). Finally, he may not be best buds with Karl, but he does respect him as he has said before. Their relationship is definitely getting stronger.

People make out that Cuz is some lunatic, he's not. It's just the same lazy, rehashed cliches that are constantly repeated, and then it becomes accepted (this is a general comment, not specifically aimed at you). He's emotional and gets technicals, but he's never had one issue off the court. In fact, he has a pretty stellar record off the court.

I agree though, he is the best big in the game, and it's not even a debate in my opinion. I watch every Kings game and he is an absolute freak, how someone that big and strong can be that nimble, agile and skilled is scary. He's also one of the best defensive big men in the league despite the narrative of national media types who apparently haven't bothered to revise their opinion of him since his rookie year. All the stats and advanced stats are there to back this up.

For January he's averaging 33/14. It will be a total joke if he doesn't make it to the all-star game.

We're not trading him by the way, he loves Sacramento and Vlade isn't stupid.

Felt good to get that off my chest!

Think you have me all wrong....

Boogie is the man. Check my posts...I've been singing his praises and saying make the trade since Garnett was a Celtic!

Sorry, my "motivated" comment perhaps requires some further breakdown. I didn't mean he's not motivated per se, I meant imagine how good he could be on a genuine contender surrounded by better players and with a coach he wanted to run through walls for (rather than just play for Karl). I'd like to see him realise his full potential, I don't think he can do that in the current set-up.

I fully agree he's a victim of bad press. Look when he was on the World Cup Team a couple of years ago and no-one had a bad thing to say about him or his work ethic. Two crucial things for me there:
1. Very strong coaching set up with Coach K (not going to try to spell it) and Thibs amongst others
2. The quality of the playing personnel he was surrounded with

I've said for years he's one of the best bigs in the game, and this year I've revised that to the best big in the game - incl. Davis who's having a tough year. There's not a team in the league that wouldn't take Boogie in a heartbeat, bad rep (undeserved IMO) or not. If they wouldn't, they're idiots.

I know he likes Sacramento, but you have to wonder if he has greater aspirations? Genuine question and not a slight on the city, the team or him in any way.

For Forks Sake

ButtersSuki

Timmmmmay out tonight, sore knees. Wonder is that really the case or Pop being Pop?

Either way, can't see GSW losing tonight now.

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Timmmmmay out tonight, sore knees. Wonder is that really the case or Pop being Pop?

Either way, can't see GSW losing tonight now.

Has to be pop just playing psychological warfare, he never likes to reveal too much in the early meetings.
Can't wait for the game, going to have a full house tonight watching it, playoff atmosphere in oracle, can't beat it.

Carcharodon

Well, that was both fantastic and anti climatic. The Warriors just destroyed the Spurs, absolutely killed them, whole 4th quarter was garbage time.

ButtersSuki

Yeah I kinda figured it would be like that but you know a playoff game won't be anything like that. Suspect strongly it was Pop being Pop and deliberately sitting him (Duncan) and not giving a toss about the game as he occassionally (actually, regularly) does but it hurts the fans who wanted to see a contest and not a blow out.

In a way I'm glad I wasn't there (was scheduled to be there with work but that trip got cancelled) for that reason. Flying out this Friday instead, only game I could potentially see when I'm there is Houston at Miami. Not exactly the same as GSW Spurs is it? Not eve. Sure if I'll go.....genuinely!

ButtersSuki

Not content with 48 the other night, Boogie goes for 56.

McLoughlin

Popovich: "I'm glad my general manager wasn't in my locker room or I might've gotten fired."

Best comment from Pop in ages.

ButtersSuki

https://vine.co/v/iiXVuAtz7LX

If you're ever going to a GSW game, get there early to see Curry warm-up. It's a joy to watch in itself.

One (other) thing I've noticed he does probably better then anyone I've ever seen is his ability to finish with either hand on a running layup but jumping off the wrong foot; i.e. when doing a right hand layup the natural motion is to jump off the left foot, and left hand lay up you jump off the right. He had one last night where he wrapped the ball around his body and got fouled before making the right hand layup off his right foot (I can't find a useable clip, sorry), but he's had quite a few of these recently. It's an unnatural motion (try it, even mentally and you'll see how weird it feels) and a very difficult thing to master but shows his skill level not just in terms of basketball ability but also the control he has over his body at pace.

moneyman

ButtersSuki wrote: »

https://vine.co/v/iiXVuAtz7LX

If you're ever going to a GSW game, get there early to see Curry warm-up. It's a joy to watch in itself.

One (other) thing I've noticed he does probably better then anyone I've ever seen is his ability to finish with either hand on a running layup but jumping off the wrong foot; i.e. when doing a right hand layup the natural motion is to jump off the left foot, and left hand lay up you jump off the right. He had one last night where he wrapped the ball around his body and got fouled before making the right hand layup off his right foot (I can't find a useable clip, sorry), but he's had quite a few of these recently. It's an unnatural motion (try it, even mentally and you'll see how weird it feels) and a very difficult thing to master but shows his skill level not just in terms of basketball ability but also the control he has over his body at pace.

I always used to try that - difficult skill to master. Nash patented it. Curry is insane though.

Can't believe the amount of terrible calls at the end of that Kings game. Charlotte didn't deserve to come out of there with the win, that was a monstrous effort from Boogie. 56 and the refs took him out of the game with a bogus call. A ridiculous travel on their game winner too, it's amazing how bad NBA refs can be.

ButtersSuki

moneyman wrote: »

I always used to try that - difficult skill to master. Nash patented it. Curry is insane though.

Can't believe the amount of terrible calls at the end of that Kings game. Charlotte didn't deserve to come out of there with the win, that was a monstrous effort from Boogie. 56 and the refs took him out of the game with a bogus call. A ridiculous travel on their game winner too, it's amazing how bad NBA refs can be.

Boogie was fouled on the last play he was involved in and should have been going to the line to shoot for 59 as he made the shot. I'm telling you if you switch him for LeJon on that last play and we all know which way that call goes!

NBA refs are atrocious at best.

NufcNavan

Yep, the refs didn't do the Pacers favours last night. Deandre Jordan pushed PG into Chris Paul and he got done for the blocking foul. They hit a 3 down the stretch straight after.

ButtersSuki

In less than 7 days, GS beat the clear 2nd (minus Duncan admittedly) and arguably 3rd (maybe OKC?) best teams in the league by a combined 64 points....whilst resting the starters in the 4th quarters of both games. Hmmmm.

For Forks Sake

Lue named to coach Eastern all-stars......

NufcNavan

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Lue named to coach Eastern all-stars......

Well deserved.

NufcNavan

Anyway, you have to laugh about the furore over the All Stars each and every year.

I don't think I've ever watched an all star game in full. They are a joke. If you enjoy watching guys playing half assed and no defense then this is the game for you.

The slam dunk contest is a non event. The only thing worth watching over the weekend is the 3 point contest.

NufcNavan

Anyway, you have to laugh about the furore over the All Stars each and every year.

I don't think I've ever watched an all star game in full. They are a joke. If you enjoy watching guys playing half assed and no defense then this is the game for you.

The slam dunk contest is a non event. The only thing worth watching over the weekend is the 3 point contest.

ButtersSuki

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Lue named to coach Eastern all-stars......

Was LeJon unavailable? Oh, wait.....