NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2017-18

ButtersSuki

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Kyrie Irving is to undergo "a minimally invasive procedure" on his knee today Saturday. An operation on your knee might be minimally invasive but it's not a small job. And no timeline on his return.

Granted I don't have the info. the Boston and Kyrie's medical teams have but what a time to do it too - late March. Should have been done earlier if they were going to do it....he's been talking about having this since last June BEFORE he was traded to Boston btw.

Meatyfubu

If Kyrie misses any of the 1st round, I don't see the Celtics getting past the Sixers or Bucks. I'd fancy them to get by the Pacers and definitely the Heat.

On the West I hope the T-wolves miss the playoffs. The franchise have clearly made some moves that I'm not totally sure were correct.
Butler was a great pick up and you have to get him if you can but evidently given Wiggins performances, they may have gave up the wrong piece from a value perspective.

Wiggins is getting paid like a star yet he and LaVine(still) have close to identical numbers but notably LaVine shoots better. Wiggins has the higher ceiling but that's no use if you can't reach it. The injury to LaVine etc but little reason why he won't recover at 22.

Teague picked up and Rubio dumped primarily for spacing yet Rubio is shooting better from deep than any year and continuing to do well in advanced metrics on defense.

Teague 57m 3 years
Rubio 34m 2 years

Wiggins 150m 5 years
LaVine 3m 1 year

Re-do the Butler trade Wiggins, Dunn for Butler and keep your picks, trading Wiggins saves 147m in guaranteed salary and you keep Markannen.

This team is tied up for a lot of money and unless Wiggins makes a leap they're too far away from making an impact even with KAT continuing to improve.

rushfan

Meatyfubu wrote:

If Kyrie misses any of the 1st round, I don't see the Celtics getting past the Sixers or Bucks. I'd fancy them to get by the Pacers and definitely the Heat.

Kyrie out for 3 to 6 weeks according to Yahoo sports.

Meatyfubu

rushfan wrote: »

Kyrie out for 3 to 6 weeks according to Yahoo sports.

6 weeks spells trouble for sure. It might be time to call it a year and treat it as a means of giving some of their younger guys an opportunity and return with Hayward and Irving next year.
Hard to do as 2 seed but they have alot of potential long term so no need to rush anything

Itssoeasy

Meatyfubu wrote: »

6 weeks spells trouble for sure. It might be time to call it a year and treat it as a means of giving some of their younger guys an opportunity and return with Hayward and Irving next year.
Hard to do as 2 seed but they have alot of potential long term so no need to rush anything

Three weeks from today is the Saturday after the final regular season games. Six weeks in the first Saturday in May which as you say would not be good for the Celtics.

rushfan

Meatyfubu wrote:

6 weeks spells trouble for sure. It might be time to call it a year and treat it as a means of giving some of their younger guys an opportunity and return with Hayward and Irving next year. Hard to do as 2 seed but they have alot of potential long term so no need to rush anything

It was a procedure to remove a tension wire from his knee. Guess it depends how the actual procedure goes. If it's successful and he rehabs well, maybe he could make some kind of impact on the playoffs, they're goosed without him.

Meatyfubu

rushfan wrote: »

It was a procedure to remove a tension wire from his knee. Guess it depends how the actual procedure goes. If it's successful and he rehabs well, maybe he could make some kind of impact on the playoffs, they're goosed without him.

Stevens and Ainge are clever enough to know their ceiling. I'd be very surprised assuming that's the timeline, we see Irving appear back on the early side.
Without Hayward they have little post season chance. Keeping him out until the 2nd round seems like the best thing to do.

rushfan

They won't catch Toronto, nor will the Cavs catch the C's. Will probably play one of Washington, Miami or Buck's. So, rushing him back wouldn't make a real difference. Chances are it'll be the 6 weeks alright.

ButtersSuki

Good Woj Pod interview with one of my favourite, and in my opinion one of the better ESPN analysts, Tim Legler, online now. I'm old enough to have seen him play (yikes!).

Also a good Bill Simmons Pod with Ryen Rusillo online too. This is the 2nd time I've heard Rusillo on the Simmons Pod and he's been very good both times, so much so I've meant to search for his own podcast but just haven't gotten around to it. There is a bit of a strange segment in it where they talk relatively positively about Stephen A. Smith, but it's carefully couched in language like "I couldn't do what he does" and "I admire his work ethic" etc., so you have to wonder what the true feeling are. Otherwise, quite good though.

Itssoeasy

rushfan wrote: »

It was a procedure to remove a tension wire from his knee. Guess it depends how the actual procedure goes. If it's successful and he rehabs well, maybe he could make some kind of impact on the playoffs, they're goosed without him.

Ah well removing a tension wire isn't as big a procedure as what I thought it was. Removal of plates/pins isn't a big deal really. Or at least it shouldn't be.

Jeez, Raptors blew an 18 point lead to lose at home to the Clippers. Ibaka was even more woeful that usual, head in hands stuff.

K.O.Kiki

Deleted User wrote: »

Jeez, Raptors blew an 18 point lead to lose at home to the Clippers. Ibaka was even more woeful that usual, head in hands stuff.

Clippers unleashed The Boban.

Nothing you can do when that happens tbh.

LuckyLloyd

LeBron's last season in Cleveland has been a good one. Obviously he will ultimately be judged by its post season conclusion, but in terms of regular season output this has been his best season overall of his second period with the team.

With 9 games to go he's due to finish his fourth year of his second stint in Cleveland with highs in:

Games played
Minutes played
FG%
3P%
FT%
DRBPG (Career high)
APG (Career high)
BPG
PPG
PER
TS%
BPM
VORP

All while turning 33. They've needed him to be in this form too as they'll likely finish up with the weakest regular season finish of this four year run. However, since the Trade Deadline they're 13 - 7 and on a five game streak. I dare say its lining up nicely for them as they approach the playoffs.

LuckyLloyd

Zach Lowe is gushing about their offense in his weekly review column:

5. The Cavs, going 5-out again

With Kevin Love back, the Cleveland Cavaliers can play more with LeBron James and four shooters. There is no defense for that. The Cavs don't have to run anything as complicated as a ball screen to get a dunk or an open 3-pointer. Just give the ball to LeBron, have one guy screen for someone else away from the ball, and wait to see what develops:


That play from Monday's win over Milwaukee didn't involve Love, but the concept is the same: There is no safe place from which to send help. Any rotation to the rim leaves a good shooter open. The Cavs got bucket after bucket against Toronto down the stretch Wednesday by having George Hill and Love screen for each other in the corner just like that.

An alternate version: Love and Kyle Korver have developed a beautiful off-ball screening chemistry:


That puts two defenders of different sizes in an impossible predicament. Switch, and Love has a mismatch. Stay home, and someone who needs little time and space to launch is going to get more than a little time and space.

The Cavs with Love at center are unstoppable. The only way to beat them is to outscore them. Only one team -- last season's Warriors -- has managed that in the playoffs. As I wrote last week, Love at center might be the only lineup type in the Eastern Conference with enough shooting to play Toronto's centers -- Jonas Valanciunas and Jakob Poeltl -- off the floor.

That overall matchup would be fascinating. What happens if OG Anunoby quakes on the big stage? The Raps typically go with three guards when Anunoby rests. None of those guards can defend LeBron. That means a big man has to do it -- Serge Ibaka or Pascal Siakam. OK. Then who's guarding Love -- regardless of what position he's playing? An undersized wing or a plodding center? The answer against Love-at-center groups could be neither if Toronto plays Siakam and Ibaka together -- a tandem Dwane Casey has used more in the past two weeks, but interestingly played for less than a minute against the Cavs on Wednesday.

Looming over all of that is a larger question: Who exactly are the Cavs starting when everyone gets healthy? If I had to bet, I'd go with Hill, Rodney Hood, LeBron, Love and Larry Nance Jr. It wouldn't surprise me if Cleveland gives Tristan Thompson first crack at center, and sticks with him if he fares well. But Nance has outplayed Thompson handily since the Cavs blew up their team.

Meatyfubu

They look great tbf. I'm not totally convinced they can beat the Warriors but I do think if the Rockets managed to get past GSW that they would then beat the Rockets. It's the most interesting post season in a number of years

Meatyfubu

I've been reading more and more about how people think Mitchell is the ROY and I just can't understand it.
The typical narrative is "Simmons is the best player but Mitchell has been great to watch" and although I agree in some ways as he's very dynamic, you have to give the best player award to the best player.

Simmons is arguably the most important player on the Sixers already, lots of people say Embiid but the numbers say Simmons.

At the minute he's 2nd in defensive win shares, 4th in assists, 20th in rebounds, 16th in FG%, 8th in steals, 15th in VORP. I think he's almost as unanimous as Oladipo for MIP and Harden for MVP but Mitchell will get a lot of support.

Gregk961

Meatyfubu wrote: »

I've been reading more and more about how people think Mitchell is the ROY and I just can't understand it.
The typical narrative is "Simmons is the best player but Mitchell has been great to watch" and although I agree in some ways as he's very dynamic, you have to give the best player award to the best player.

Simmons is arguably the most important player on the Sixers already, lots of people say Embiid but the numbers say Simmons.

At the minute he's 2nd in defensive win shares, 4th in assists, 20th in rebounds, 16th in FG%, 8th in steals, 15th in VORP. I think he's almost as unanimous as Oladipo for MIP and Harden for MVP but Mitchell will get a lot of support.

I've kind of been rooting for Mitchell since I got a proper look at him around December. I haven't been so surprised by a rookie in years to be honest-Has a player picked outside the top 10 ever played at Mitchell's level? The fact that he has slotted into the void left behind my Hayward(an all star last year) and done a comparable job is really impressive. He has carried the scoring load for the Jazz and is a huge reason they are in the playoff hunt.

I do have to concede that Simmons deserves the award at this point though. Being on a better team certainly makes things a bit easier for him and the year spent on the sideline helped as well, but Simmons looks like the real deal and if he can sort out his jump shot and post ups over the next few years he is surely a future MVP.

K.O.Kiki

I think this image speaks for itself.

Meatyfubu

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I think this image speaks for itself.

That's a good graph. Pretty surprised to see Tatum and Lonzo so close but it just shows what a media narrative will do.
No surprise about Fox, I was never high on him, I thought he was essentially going to be Reggie Jackson.
Josh Jackson has been disappointing, he should be a lock down defender with his size.
I don't think i said it here but Mitchell was my outside bet for ROY, I had Simmons picked here as the redshirt year is such an edge imo.

On a related note Fultz is back tonight

Osmosis Jones

Just realised that the Pacers have sealed their spot in the playoffs while currently 5th, whereas 3rd in the West haven't even confirmed their's yet.

ButtersSuki

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Just realised that the Pacers have sealed their spot in the playoffs while currently 5th, whereas 3rd in the West haven't even confirmed their's yet.

Yeah but it's more a reflection of the strength and tightness of the West than anything else.

Strange loss for Portland last night against the tanking Grizzlies.

K.O.Kiki

If the Sixers win their next game vs the Hawks (very likely) they'll be level with the Cavs.
What an amazing turn-around year it's been!

Itssoeasy

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

If the Sixers win their next game vs the Hawks (very likely) they'll be level with the Cavs.
What an amazing turn-around year it's been!

The sixers are certainly hitting form at the right time.

Meatyfubu

They're looking so good for a finals appearance. Easiest schedule so potentially going to pip the Cavs to 3rd which leaves you needing beat Wiz with a banged up Wall and Celtics with a banged up Kyrie.
Fultz looking threatening so a bench spark if nothing else.

NufcNavan

Ah come on now. Finals?

I fancy the Pacers to knock them out first round tbh.

Osmosis Jones

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Strange loss for Portland last night against the tanking Grizzlies.

Yeah was Portland's final back to back and Lillard was out. Marshon Brooks of all people scored 14 in the 4th after signing a 10 day with the Grizzlies the day before.

Meatyfubu

NufcNavan wrote: »

Ah come on now. Finals?

I fancy the Pacers to knock them out first round tbh.

Eastern conference finals I meant. Cavs should get to the NBA finals. You obviously think the Pacers would beat them as I'm pretty sure you support them.

76ers are a much better team than the Pacers imo. If they meet which seems more likely now given Embiids injury is worse than initially expected, I'd expect 4-2 to the Sixers

NufcNavan

Meatyfubu wrote: »

Eastern conference finals I meant. Cavs should get to the NBA finals. You obviously think the Pacers would beat them as I'm pretty sure you support them.

76ers are a much better team than the Pacers imo. If they meet which seems more likely now given Embiids injury is worse than initially expected, I'd expect 4-2 to the Sixers

We'll see.

2smiggy

if Embiid is out, it's a very big loss for the 76ers. Think he has to have an operation on his eye socket, and they have no definite time line for his return

Meatyfubu

2smiggy wrote: »

if Embiid is out, it's a very big loss for the 76ers. Think he has to have an operation on his eye socket, and they have no definite time line for his return

2-4 weeks is current timeline. Assume he'll be back in time and play with a mask. In the meantime it probably offers a decent opportunity to try some rotations with Simmons and Fultz.
They have the easiest schedule and are finally outscoring teams with Embiid on the bench. 80% of mins are with Embiid or Simmons on the floor. If they could hold on to homecourt it would be an achievement.