NBA Playoffs 2017

brady23

McLoughlin wrote: »

brady23 wrote: »

He's insanely good and that was one of the All time great playoff performances.
That said, I really do think that benching Love and Kyrie for the 4tg quarter does not bode well for the team moving forward.

They can't afford to have them underperform if they're to beat a GSW or Spurs

BTW bold statement about the greatest ever.
I wonder what LBJ would have to do to be universally recognized as the best ever.
I mean does 5 or 6 championships make him the best ever.
95%+ pick Jordan I can't imagine what would get a similar % of people picking LBJ.

Rings help Kobe had Jordan's shadow over him for a few years but no one goes one about Robert Horry seven in the 90s and 00s or even Steve Kerr's five. Are they better than Lebron because they have more rings no

Lebron has what 5 or 6 ish years left playng but the work load he has put on his body over the last 7 years might shorten that span. He could get

I don't think he will be universally recognized when he retires top 5 at least his arrogance with the whole decision thing and the not one but seven line didn't do him any favors

Obviously comparing lebron to Horry is different because Horry was never the best player.
People in general really need to build a bridge regarding the whole decision thing.

Yes it was arrogant and self indulgent etc but something like that should not factor into the minds of people regarding where he sits as one of the best of all time. That is irrelevant to what he has done from a basketball standpoint. The decision thing was a personality/character decision. Allowing opinions like that to play a part when evaluating players simply means he isn't being judged objectively as a basketball player.

Personally I believe he's been top 5 for a while now. I think you have to look at where you think he'll be 10 years after retirement. I believe I know where he'll be regarded 10 years after retirement, perhaps not as universally agreed as a Jordan at no1 but the position will be agreed by most I think.

brady23

Blake out indefinitely too. The Jazz will be scrambling to get Gobert back.
Obviously it was a very faint chance of winning but with this they have zero chance so the Clippers core 3 I think is over now, CP3, Griffin and Redick can all hit free agency this summer and given their inability to win I think they split.

Someone will throw silly money at Redick, Griffins relationship is somewhat strained since last year and CP3 wants to win now. Massive changes for the Clippers this summer.

ButtersSuki

brady23 wrote: »

Blake out indefinitely too. The Jazz will be scrambling to get Gobert back.
Obviously it was a very faint chance of winning but with this they have zero chance so the Clippers core 3 I think is over now, CP3, Griffin and Redick can all hit free agency this summer and given their inability to win I think they split.

Someone will throw silly money at Redick, Griffins relationship is somewhat strained since last year and CP3 wants to win now. Massive changes for the Clippers this summer.

I'm just asking for clarity here (not having a go before you assume I am)....but are you classing Reddick as one of the Clipp's Core 3? Ahead of Jordan?

ButtersSuki

It was on the cards and has been rumoured for a while that the Clipps are being blown up this summer.

The problems for them now are:

Blake athletically is a shadow of his former self although his play hasn't suffered as much as you'd expect as his all-round game has improved. His injury list though will cost him millions on his next contract though.

I don't think they trade CP3 as he's the best player and a solid building block going forward whatever direction they go. Can't see them moving him or DeAndre unless something crazy is put on the table.

I don't think Reddick will be a big loss. It's log been rumoured he's leaving and he's a bit of a mercenary so I'd be more shocked if he stayed tbh.

gimmick

Wizards playing like they are hungover.

brady23

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I'm just asking for clarity here (not having a go before you assume I am)....but are you classing Reddick as one of the Clipp's Core 3? Ahead of Jordan?

No I obviously know who's in their core 3, I just said the core 3 was over and CP3 Blake and Redick can all hit free agency.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

It was on the cards and has been rumoured for a while that the Clipps are being blown up this summer.

The problems for them now are:

Blake athletically is a shadow of his former self although his play hasn't suffered as much as you'd expect as his all-round game has improved. His injury list though will cost him millions on his next contract though.

I don't think they trade CP3 as he's the best player and a solid building block going forward whatever direction they go. Can't see them moving him or DeAndre unless something crazy is put on the table.

I don't think Reddick will be a big loss. It's log been rumoured he's leaving and he's a bit of a mercenary so I'd be more shocked if he stayed tbh.

Blakes injury list will cost him zero on his next contract because unless he chooses to take a discount with the Clippers he is a 100% certainty to get a max contract with the Clippers or someone else.

They wont have the option to trade when CP3 obviously opts out, then the decision is does he want to resign or not.

I don't think Redick resigns because they won't pay what he will get on the open market. I don't know why you think he's a mercenary though. He had one season where he was traded multiple times due to things outside of his control otherwise he's had 2 long term contracts with Orlando and Clippers.

ButtersSuki

brady23 wrote: »

No I obviously know who's in their core 3, I just said the core 3 was over and CP3 Blake and Redick can all hit free agency.



Blakes injury list will cost him zero on his next contract because unless he chooses to take a discount with the Clippers he is a 100% certainty to get a max contract with the Clippers or someone else.

They wont have the option to trade when CP3 obviously opts out, then the decision is does he want to resign or not.

I don't think Redick resigns because they won't pay what he will get on the open market. I don't know why you think he's a mercenary though. He had one season where he was traded multiple times due to things outside of his control otherwise he's had 2 long term contracts with Orlando and Clippers.

Do you don't think having a reputation as being injury prone and actually having an extensive injury history will cost a player at contract tune? Ok. I'm not saying he won't get a max, but not all maxes are equal - that's what I was referring to.

I've never heard the term "resign" used in the NBA for players but it's semantics I guess.

They could trade CP3. I'm but saying they will and it's almost certain they won't but this is the NBA, anything is possible.

Read a little more about Reddick and what people (team mates and coaches in particular) have said about him.

Finally, you said the Clipps core 3 then named 3 players so you can see how I sought clarity on that, right?

brady23

ButtersSuki wrote: »

brady23 wrote: »

No I obviously know who's in their core 3, I just said the core 3 was over and CP3 Blake and Redick can all hit free agency.



Blakes injury list will cost him zero on his next contract because unless he chooses to take a discount with the Clippers he is a 100% certainty to get a max contract with the Clippers or someone else.

They wont have the option to trade when CP3 obviously opts out, then the decision is does he want to resign or not.

I don't think Redick resigns because they won't pay what he will get on the open market. I don't know why you think he's a mercenary though. He had one season where he was traded multiple times due to things outside of his control otherwise he's had 2 long term contracts with Orlando and Clippers.

Do you don't think having a reputation as being injury prone and actually having an extensive injury history will cost a player at contract tune? Ok. I'm not saying he won't get a max, but not all maxes are equal - that's what I was referring to.

I've never heard the term "resign" used in the NBA for players but it's semantics I guess.

They could trade CP3. I'm but saying they will and it's almost certain they won't but this is the NBA, anything is possible.

Read a little more about Reddick and what people (team mates and coaches in particular) have said about him.

Finally, you said the Clipps core 3 then named 3 players so you can see how I sought clarity on that, right?

Have you seen Parsons, Howard or Mozgovs contracts, all of whom have far worse recent injury problems than Griffin and not remotely as productive so Griffin.

My apologies I meant re-sign, not resign. If they re-sign him they probably won't trade him unless it's a pre-agreed sign and trade. The only alternative to re-signing is he signs elsewhere this summer so they don't really have the option to trade him.

I think it's hard to view a guy as a mercenary if he's essentially only played for 2 teams. I don't know, I thought that would be the primary indicator of a mercenary in basketball terms.

Sorry I thought the core 3/big 3 was pretty self explanatory and universally recognised, I'll keep an eye on my punctuation though.

ButtersSuki

Just reading a Westbrook article, didn't realise he had a 7'+ wing span....certainly helps when rebounding.

There was also this, which makes some of his choices a little more understandable:

Although arguments can be made that Westbrook's usage rate—an NBA record of 41.7 percent in the regular season, per Basketball Reference—can be detrimental to his team at times, there's no doubt that the Thunder need nearly all he can give them. When Westbrook gets a triple-double, his team wins 78.6 percent of its games. When he doesn't hit the trifecta, the team wins just 35 percent of the time.

brady23

Great finish here to Spurs vs Grizz, Kawhi went nuts in the 4th, Conley playing unbelievable too

ButtersSuki

PG pretty anonymous in that do or die game tonight (15pts in 44mins). Cleveland win easily enough despite the final scoreline.

Gregk961

Houston OKC has really lived up to expectations what a great series, game 1 aside

Gregk961

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Cleveland win easily enough despite the final scoreline.

Wouldnt quite say easily- it took a Lebron 3 inside the last minute or so to win it. Cavs appear to have a terrible habit of letting teams back into games the last few weeks. Probably just a blip but they certainly arnt putting away games like a team thats going to waltz to the finals.

red face dave

Houston & Spurs will make an interesting series, if it goes that way. OKC should have take Nene out of it there towards the end

qwabercd

red face dave wrote: »

OKC should have take Nene out of it there towards the end

They should have fouled the other side of the court they had a chance when the ball was inbounded.

brady23

I think the Spurs should beat the Rockets with relative ease. Time and time again the Spurs have struggled against super athletic teams ie Clippers and OKC but a team of shooters in the mold of the Rockets will not worry Pop imo.

Vital Transformation

He was 12/12 FGM BTW.

LuckyLloyd

Gregk961 wrote: »

Wouldnt quite say easily- it took a Lebron 3 inside the last minute or so to win it. Cavs appear to have a terrible habit of letting teams back into games the last few weeks. Probably just a blip but they certainly arnt putting away games like a team thats going to waltz to the finals.

That said, they've come a way in this series imo compared to how they looked over their last four games of the regular season (or post Christmas generally). And now they get at least two game's rest on their opponent in the next round.

LeBron was immense during the series - as we've all come to expect.

LuckyLloyd

Meanwhile, the Rondo injury has saved the Celtics, though those first two games will be closely studied by whoever plays them the rest of the way imo.

LuckyLloyd

https://twitter.com/CoronaLimeDFS/status/855877017153269761

ButtersSuki

Gregk961 wrote: »

Wouldnt quite say easily- it took a Lebron 3 inside the last minute or so to win it. Cavs appear to have a terrible habit of letting teams back into games the last few weeks. Probably just a blip but they certainly arnt putting away games like a team thats going to waltz to the finals.

I hear what you're saying on one level, but it was always pretty comfortable. Felt like they (the Cavs) always could just go up a gear when required.

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Meanwhile, the Rondo injury has saved the Celtics, though those first two games will be closely studied by whoever plays them the rest of the way imo.

Big time. One of the pods I was listening to after Game 2 described Rondo as they key to dismantling them. Then he went down. Celtics now favourites to come out of the remaining games with 2 games at home.

The harsh reality is Boston aren't nearly as good as anyone thought (and I say that as a Boston fan) and need not 1, but 2 marquee players to go to the next level. It was given as a reason on another podcast (open floor I think over the weekend, or possibly The Ringer NBA show) as to why they (the Celtics) didn't make a trade at the deadline as they realised one isn't enough and if they moved then they wouldn't have space this summer or into the next trade deadline to land 2. It's an interesting take on it if true, but it could be giving Ainge more credit than he deserves.

Also when I couldn't sleep last night I read an article somewhere which discussed why Paul George "ain't all that". Was a very interesting read. Certainly his play (at times) in this series and his comments after Game 1 won't have done his rep. any favours.

LuckyLloyd

Iso Joe Johnson having a remarkable series so far for the Jazz, possibly his best single series ever through four games. He made a brilliant adjustment deep in the fourth yesterday after the Clippers gave him more attention, leading to a couple of key assists following on from his consistent scoring that got them the lead back in the second half. Having a veteran like that who can still perform towards an All Star level of play on two days rest is well worth the 2 / 22 deal he's on.

dailyfanboard

Curry ansd Thompson set records and break them year by year, the only thing in their way last year was LeBron.

NufcNavan

dailyfanboard wrote: »

Curry ansd Thompson set records and break them year by year, the only thing in their way last year was LeBron.

That has to be the most banal first post ever on here.

brady23

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Iso Joe Johnson having a remarkable series so far for the Jazz, possibly his best single series ever through four games. He made a brilliant adjustment deep in the fourth yesterday after the Clippers gave him more attention, leading to a couple of key assists following on from his consistent scoring that got them the lead back in the second half. Having a veteran like that who can still perform towards an All Star level of play on two days rest is well worth the 2 / 22 deal he's on.

You have to give props I think to Snyder and Hayward for recognising and understanding that Johnson is the guy to take the shot.

I get what PG13 was saying regarding the Miles thing and he should be the one to take the shot of its the best shot but essentially Hayward is that guy for Utah and he's willing to give it up because he knows Johnson will get a better look more often.

It's a sign of strong coaching and good character on Haywards part.
I'm a huge fan of the Jazz and I think Snyder is close to maximising their ability but I'm not convinced that their slow pace offense can win championships.

I think a higher intensity game is the way to go but I think Snyder is very adaptive and will design schemes to suit his team moving forward.

They need Exum to make a leap imo. I think their team is like the Spurs in that players abilities tend to be maximised and when it comes to free agency they often have crazy money thrown at them because they flourished in a great system but outside of that system they may not succeed.

Splitter, Marjanovic are some recent examples as the way David Lee has appeared to have gotten better since joining the Spurs or Hill since joining the Jazz. Hill for example is going to get close to a max deal this summer and I'm not sure he's a good investment.

ButtersSuki

brady23 wrote: »

You have to give props I think to Snyder and Hayward for recognising and understanding that Johnson is the guy to take the shot.

I get what PG13 was saying regarding the Miles thing and he should be the one to take the shot of its the best shot but essentially Hayward is that guy for Utah and he's willing to give it up because he knows Johnson will get a better look more often.

It's a sign of strong coaching and good character on Haywards part.
I'm a huge fan of the Jazz and I think Snyder is close to maximising their ability but I'm not convinced that their slow pace offense can win championships.

I think a higher intensity game is the way to go but I think Snyder is very adaptive and will design schemes to suit his team moving forward.

They need Exum to make a leap imo. I think their team is like the Spurs in that players abilities tend to be maximised and when it comes to free agency they often have crazy money thrown at them because they flourished in a great system but outside of that system they may not succeed.

Splitter, Marjanovic are some recent examples as the way David Lee has appeared to have gotten better since joining the Spurs or Hill since joining the Jazz. Hill for example is going to get close to a max deal this summer and I'm not sure he's a good investment.

What happens when Hayward goes to Boston this summer?

I only found this out recently but Stevens has known GH since he was 10 years old!

NufcNavan

ButtersSuki wrote: »

What happens when Hayward goes to Boston this summer?

I only found this out recently but Stevens has known GH since he was 10 years old!

If I'm Hayward I'm not in a huge rush to leave the Jazz.

ButtersSuki

NufcNavan wrote: »

If I'm Hayward I'm not in a huge rush to leave the Jazz.

I can see both sides of it. They're onto a good thing in Utah no doubt, nut the allure to join Stevens and get the Butler band back together may (may) be too strong.

In the biggest shock I've ever seen NBA-LeBron-travel wise.....
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19237463/lebron-james-go-ahead-3-pointer-game-4-counted

And GS put up 45 in a quarter last night - impressive.

brady23

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19229555/chicago-bulls-coach-fred-hoiberg-impossible-guard-boston-celtics-isaiah-thomas-travels

Guess it's not just LBJ who travels :-D