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2018-19 NBA Season Thread


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34 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Giannis is in the East, remember, that conference that you use as a measuring stick to criticize and denigrate LeBron for his past 8 years? 6 wins more in the shittier conference really shouldn't matter when it comes to team accomplishments.

Harden lead this team out of an 11-14 Melo shaped hole to what looks to be the second or third best record in the only conference that matters. He beat Golden State and the shithead refs in Oracle for the best individual performance of the season. That's pretty phenomenal all things considered, and his individual offensive production this year would easily win more likeable guys like Curry, KD, Lebron or AD the MVP without much debate.

But let's face it, half the NBA fans and media hate Harden and don't want him to succeed, so we are left with them finding any reason possible to give it to someone else, like "his team doesn't have the best record," or "this guy got a triple double." Now it's about defense, which has never been a significant criteria for MVP before, or else Kawhi would have been a lot higher in past years. People love offense, except when it comes to Harden, and every year the criteria for MVP inevitably changes to be something Harden doesn't quite have. It would be sad if it wasn't so obviously predictable. They did the same thing to LeBron in 2012 to award the least deserving MVP of all time, and look how that turned out. Its pure bullshit.

First, I don't buy the conference argument this year. This is the best the East has been in forever and the West just isn't as stacked as it seems.  Fucking Denver is going to finish #2 in the West and I don't think I would take them in a 7 game series against Toronto, Milwaukee or Philly. I'm not sure I would take them against Indiana or Boston. I mean, the Clippers traded away their best player and tried to tank and still made the playoffs in the mighty west. So let's throw out the conference argument.

Secondly, you don't get to complain about nobody wanting James Harden to win the MVP when he won the fucking thing last year. If you want to argue voter fatigue, then sure. But they certainly didn't change the criteria just to screw him out of the award he won last year, did they? You also don't get to give him credit for leading his team out of a 11-14 start when he played in almost every one of those games. Feel free to blame that 25 game start on the 10 whole games that Carmelo Anthony played in, but these are just insipid arguments.

And please spare me the narrative about what a great post defender he is, especially in a league that has all but abandoned post play. I feel like somebody is telling me how great of a personality the fat girl has when you guys talk about his post defense. The truth is that he's made tremendous strides to become a below average defender. He's not the single worst defender in the league anymore, so that's an improvement but he still takes plays off -- and he should since he's got to carry such a ridiculous load on offense.

 

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3 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Giannis is in the East, remember, that conference that you use as a measuring stick to criticize and denigrate LeBron for his past 8 years? 6 wins more in the shittier conference really shouldn't matter when it comes to team accomplishments.

Harden lead this team out of an 11-14 Melo shaped hole to what looks to be the second or third best record in the only conference that matters. He beat Golden State and the shithead refs in Oracle for the best individual performance of the season. That's pretty phenomenal all things considered, and his individual offensive production this year would easily win more likeable guys like Curry, KD, Lebron or AD the MVP without much debate.

But let's face it, half the NBA fans and media hate Harden and don't want him to succeed, so we are left with them finding any reason possible to give it to someone else, like "his team doesn't have the best record," or "this guy got a triple double." Now it's about defense, which has never been a significant criteria for MVP before, or else Kawhi would have been a lot higher in past years. People love offense, except when it comes to Harden, and every year the criteria for MVP inevitably changes to be something Harden doesn't quite have. It would be sad if it wasn't so obviously predictable. They did the same thing to LeBron in 2012 to award the least deserving MVP of all time, and look how that turned out. Its pure bullshit.

Yea or it’s just that Giannis is having an all time level two way season.

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Every non rocket fan on surly probably thinks Giannis is most deserving and the best player on the best team(record wise).


Hes also an absolute nightmare of a player to scheme for.

Every rocket fan probably thinks harden is mvp because of his insane scoring streaks.

Gun to the head I think Giannis wins comfortably with the way the bucks have played all year. Not just post failed melo experiment.

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17 hours ago, Llogg said:

I unabashedly admit I think Giannis should be declared MVP because I hate the way Harden plays the game. It helps that the stats put Giannis in rare company.

I think because so many hate Harden's game, Giannis will win the award.  I also think there's probably some voter fatigue on Harden's part.  Both are deserving and had amazing seasons and will easily make the NBA All Pro first team.  There can only be one.

imgur

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Dream 1st round matchup

GSW - OKC: I can see OKC winning at least 1 game, which 1 more than SA or LAC. Hopefully we get to see this mythical "playoff P"

HOU - SA: will the ghosts of the playoff past haunt D'Anthony and Harden? When LMA plays the Rockets, he is Duncan 2.0 and Pop always has something in his bag. Expect non-stop highlights of the Dream abusing Robinson and Manu blocking Harden 3 pt shot.

Too bad Nurkic and McCollum is injured or else Jazz and POR would be 🔥

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On 4/7/2019 at 9:38 PM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

First, I don't buy the conference argument this year. This is the best the East has been in forever and the West just isn't as stacked as it seems.  Fucking Denver is going to finish #2 in the West and I don't think I would take them in a 7 game series against Toronto, Milwaukee or Philly. I'm not sure I would take them against Indiana or Boston. I mean, the Clippers traded away their best player and tried to tank and still made the playoffs in the mighty west. So let's throw out the conference argument.

Secondly, you don't get to complain about nobody wanting James Harden to win the MVP when he won the fucking thing last year. If you want to argue voter fatigue, then sure. But they certainly didn't change the criteria just to screw him out of the award he won last year, did they? You also don't get to give him credit for leading his team out of a 11-14 start when he played in almost every one of those games. Feel free to blame that 25 game start on the 10 whole games that Carmelo Anthony played in, but these are just insipid arguments.

And please spare me the narrative about what a great post defender he is, especially in a league that has all but abandoned post play. I feel like somebody is telling me how great of a personality the fat girl has when you guys talk about his post defense. The truth is that he's made tremendous strides to become a below average defender. He's not the single worst defender in the league anymore, so that's an improvement but he still takes plays off -- and he should since he's got to carry such a ridiculous load on offense.

 

Spurs flavor? 

Bitter

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The Athletic's NBA player poll. It's a pay site so I pulled the results from Reddit:

Who’s the MVP? (122 votes)

James Harden (44.3%)

Giannis Antetokounmpo (38.9%)

Paul George (12.7%)

Joel Embiid (1.7%)

Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard (1%)

 

Who’s the best defender? (114 votes)

Kawhi Leonard (30.3%)

Paul George (16.2%)

Rudy Gobert (14.9%)

Patrick Beverley (10.5%)

Joel Embiid (4.4%)

Jrue Holiday (3.5%)

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Draymond Green, Kris Dunn (2.6%)

Klay Thompson, Torrey Craig, Mikal Bridges, Marcus Smart (1.7%)

Myles Turner; Kyle Lowry; Steven Adams; P.J Tucker; Royce O’Neal; David Nwaba (1%)

 

Who’s the best ballhandler? (127 votes)

Kyrie Irving (77.1%)

Steph Curry (7.4%)

Kemba Walker (6.2%)

James Harden (2.3%)

Chris Paul (1.5%)

C.J. McCollum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Crawford, Dion Waiters, Paul George, Ben Simmons (1%; one vote)

De’Aaron Fox (0.5%; split vote)

 

You're building a roster from scratch: Who are you signing first? (125 votes)

Giannis Antetokounmpo (36.4%)

Anthony Davis (10.4%)

Joel Embiid (8.8%)

Kevin Durant (8%)

LeBron James (7.6%)

Steph Curry (6.4%)

Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard (3.2%)

Luka Doncic (2.4%)

Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Trae Young, Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook (1.6%) James Harden, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kyrie Irving, DeMarcus Cousins, Udonis Haslem, Shaquille Harrison, Jrue Holiday (1%)

 

Who’s the most overrated? (47 votes)

Draymond Green, Russell Westbrook (17%)

Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns (6.3%)

James Harden, Ben Simmons, LeBron James, Kyle Lowry (4.2%) Semi Ojeleye, Kyrie Irving, Brook Lopez, Myles Turner, Luka Doncic, Hassan Whiteside, John Collins, Lonzo Ball, C.J. McCollum, Nikola Jokic, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul Millsap, Klay Thompson, Jayson Tatum (2.1%)

 

Who’s the most underrated? (116 votes)

Jrue Holiday (16.3%)

Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton (6.8%)

Mike Conley (6%)

Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Lou Williams, C.J. McCollum (5.1%)

D’Angelo Russell (3.4%)

Malcolm Brogdon, Nikola Jokic, Tobias Harris (2.5%)

Pascal Siakam, Buddy Hield, Steven Adams, Zach LaVine, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris (1.7%)

Terrance Ferguson, Marcus Morris, Goran Dragic, Devin Booker, DeMar DeRozan, Danny Green, Justise Winslow, Danilo Gallinari, Bobby Portis, Colin Sexton, Emmanuel Mudiay, Will Barton, Austin Rivers, Eric Bledsoe, Ben Simmons, Nikola Vucevic, John Collins, Robin Lopez, Kyrie Irving, Jeremy Lamb, Derrick Favors, Robert Williams, Draymond Green, Paul George (1%; one vote)

P.J. Tucker, Eric Gordon (0.5%; split vote)

 

Who’s the best player of all time? (117 votes)

Michael Jordan (73%)

LeBron James (11.9%)

Kobe Bryant (10.6%)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1.7%)

Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson, Kevin Durant (1%)

Who don’t you want to fight? (Or just ‘Who’s the toughest?’) (105 votes)

James Johnson (43.8%)

Steven Adams (19%)

Zach Randolph (4.7%)

Patrick Beverley (3.8%)

Serge Ibaka (3.3%)

Aron Baynes, Nene (2.8%)

DeMarcus Cousins, Charles Oakley, Bobby Portis, Ron Artest (1.9%) Mike Scott, Marcus Smart, James Harden, Domantas Sabonis, Boban Marjanovic, Kemba Walker, Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Markieff Morris, Terry Rozier, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid (1%; one vote)

P.J. Tucker (0.5%; split vote)

 

Who talks the most trash? (123 votes)

Draymond Green (33.7%)

Patrick Beverley (15.4%)

Russell Westbrook (12.2%)

Joel Embiid (8.1%)

Lance Stephenson (4.1%)

DeMarcus Cousins, Joe Ingles (3.2%)

Marcus Smart (2.4%)

Jae Crowder (1.6%)

Marcus Morris, Chris Paul (1.2%)

Terry Rozier, Isaiah Thomas, Montrezl Harrell, Wayne Selden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jusuf Nurkic, Ben Simmons, Sindarius Thornwell, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, De’Aaron Fox, Udonis Haslem, Serge Ibaka, Jimmy Butler, Eric Bledsoe, Buddy Hield (1%)

Markieff Morris (0.5%; split vote)

 

Which coach, aside from your own, would you want to play for? (121 votes)

Gregg Popovich (40.9%)

Brad Stevens (10%)

Steve Kerr (7.8%)

Mike D’Antoni (7.4%)

Doc Rivers (7%)

Mike Malone (5.3%)

Quin Snyder (3.3%)

Mike Budenholzer (2.4%)

Kenny Atkinson, David Fizdale (2%)

Terry Stotts, Fred Hoiberg (1.6%)

Alvin Gentry (1.2%)

Dave Joerger, Erik Spoelstra, Rick Carlisle, Brett Brown, Scott Brooks, Phil Jackson, Larry Drew, Dwane Casey (1%)

Steve Clifford (0.5%; split vote)

 

Which coach, aside from your own, would you not want to play for? (52 votes)

Tom Thibodeau (34.6%)

Jim Boylen (21.1%)

Igor Kokoskov (11.5%)

Nate McMillan (5.7%)

Stan Van Gundy (4.8%)

Gregg Popovich (3.8%)

Lloyd Pierce, Quin Snyder, Erik Spoelstra, Rick Carlisle, Nick Nurse, Alvin Gentry, Luke Walton, Steve Clifford, Scott Skiles (2%)

Jeff Van Gundy (1%)

 

Which team, other than your own, will win the title this season? (110 votes)

Golden State (79.5%)

Milwaukee (6.8%)

Toronto (4%)

Houston (3.1%)

Boston, Philadelphia (1.8%)

Oklahoma City, Clippers, Orlando (1%)

 

Who is the best ref? (56 votes)

Zach Zarba (21.4%)

Ken Mauer (14.2%)

Tony Brothers (10.7%)

Monty McCutchen, Courtney Kirkland (7.1%)

Marc Davis, Ed Malloy (5.3%)

James Capers, Mike Callahan, Joey Crawford (3.5%)

Tom Washington, Scott Foster, Curtis Blair, Kevin Cutler, Joshua Tiven, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Derek Richardson, Mark Lindsay, Ron Garretson, Tyler Ford (1.7%)

 

Who is the worst ref? (53 votes)

Tony Brothers (24.5%)

Scott Foster (20.7%)

Marc Davis (13.2%)

“All of them” (or some variation of that sentiment) (11.3%)

Ken Mauer (5.6%)

Zach Zarba, Pat Fraher, Kevin Cutler, Jacyn Goble, Mark Lindsay, Eric Lewis, Leroy Richardson, Joey Crawford (retired), Nick Buchert, Derrick Stafford, Marat Kogut, Rodney Mott, Kane Fitzgerald (1.8%)

 

Where will Kevin Durant be playing next season? (109 votes)

New York (63.3%)

Golden State (20.2%)

Brooklyn (4.5%)

Clippers (2.7%)

Oklahoma City, “NBA,” “Eastern Conference,” (1.8%)

Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, Portland (1%)

 

What do you see as the biggest issue facing the league? (58 votes)

Officiating (“too soft,” inconsistencies, player-ref relationships, superstar calls) (29.3%)

Super teams, Fan behavior (13.7%)

Social media (5.2%)

Too much youth (3.4%)

20 other votes (1.7%; one vote)

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Holy shit..... This looks like it's about Luke Walton, who Jeannie doesn't want to fire.

Man, you have to wonder beyond the Walton situation if Magic is looking at the board and wonders if he could get another star for Lebron this summer.  Reportedly, Magic was against drafting Lonzo Ball and that was a Jeannie decision as well.  Everyone thought it was her brother who was the idiot.... maybe it's just all of Doc's kids.

 

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1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

its absolutely amazing how every FO LeBrons had since the Heatles/Pat Riley has turned to toxic. Griffin, Blatt, Lue, Magic, Walton.

 

This is going to shadow his amazing run at making the NBA finals for like 9 straight years.

Wouldn't be surprised if David Griffin ends up being the next GM of the Lakers.

12 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

So which job was Magic worse at:  NBA commentator, or Lakers President.   He sucked pretty damn hard at both of those.  If I had to pick, I'd go with Announcer as his worst job because I really can't think of anyone who is worse.

 

Talk show host..... Definitely talk show host.

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49 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

So which job was Magic worse at:  NBA commentator, or Lakers President.   He sucked pretty damn hard at both of those.  If I had to pick, I'd go with Announcer as his worst job because I really can't think of anyone who is worse.

Late night talk show host.

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6 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Wouldn't be surprised if David Griffin ends up being the next GM of the Lakers.

 

This

5 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Late night talk show host.

and THIS!!!   Cant be a good talk show host when you can hardly talk.

 

 

Also, lt's not forget he was also a pretty bad coach.    This seems like the same situation.   He quit when he found it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.

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2 hours ago, aggie08 said:

Keyshawn Johnson is having a breakdown on local radio this morning, trying to fight anyone who would dare call Magic's tenure a failure. It's every bit as good as it sounds.

The funny thing is it's not.  Now, it could be, but this was the summer they had been pointing to since George spurned them.  Now, they had some opportunities which were presented to them which weren't seen on the board in 2016 when he started becoming more of a voice in the franchise like Kawhi and AD, and you can make a case that those failures were as much about Lebron and Klutch sports mismanaging their attempts to drive discontent and leverage over to the Lakers, but not sure how involved or how much Magic and ugly Rob Lowe can rein those guys in.  But he moved a shit load of bad money off the books and landed Lebron.  Those are two pretty big things.  Also, their drafting under Magic/Ugly Rob Lowe has been pretty solid other than the Ball pick, which is more for non-basketball reasons and in that case they got overruled by the Owner. 

Now, if they come out of this summer with only a guy like Boogie?  Even though he's a very skilled player, its an overall failure but they had to move a ton of salary.   Everyone looks back now with 20/20 hindsight at the Russell deal and because it look like he's becoming a good player, but he was reviled in the locker room at the time.  They definitely made their fair share of mistakes (not controlling Lebron/Klutch enough, the total mismanagement of Julius Randle's situation, senselessly giving away Zubac for basically nothing), but if they sign a Jimmy Butler/Kemba and can get Boogie on a cost controlled deal then it's not a terrible tenure.  The issue is, how it turns out is up to someone else now.

 

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