2018-2019 NBA thread

[Blueobelisk]

$190 million fucking dollars?! I'm actually starting to hate the NBA.

[xskarma]

$190 million fucking dollars?! I'm actually starting to hate the NBA.

He is probably worth FAR more than that to his team and the NBA in terms of getting people to watch their product and buy merchandise. If he grows into the MVP caliber player he has the pedigree to be, paying 190M for his services is a pittance.

If he could actually learn how to play defense he'd probably already be in the MVP conversation. He averaged 25+ points on efficient shooting for the past few years. That kind of production gets you PAID.

[xskarma]

Pre-season Basketball!

Celtics played a nice first half, and no one got injured yet, so, so far so good.

[xskarma]

Kyrie Irving apparently announced his intention to re-sign long term with the Celtics. Not sure how much stock I'll put in that before the season, but it's nice to hear. We'll see how he feels after the season though, when he's about to be a free agent for real and freedom of choice beckons. Intentions are not signed contracts.

[McFuu]

I've been watching some preseason ball and some full game highlights. Two things really, one is Olympic Melo back? Granted he's looked real lazy on defense, but the entirety of the rockets look lazy on defense, so it's hard to tell.
But the Lakers... They look good, they have a team that can develop into real playoff contenders in 2-3 years if management can keep their hands out the fucking cookie jar and stop trading away players when they gain value. I know they haven't played much, but when the Lakers are clicking on offense, they look extremely impressive. Most other teams you get iso ball or give and go, but the Lakers have phenomenal ball movement and really set up great plays.
Looking forward to seeing them get better honestly.

[xskarma]

But the Lakers... They look good, they have a team that can develop into real playoff contenders in 2-3 years if management can keep their hands out the fucking cookie jar and stop trading away players when they gain value. I know they haven't played much, but when the Lakers are clicking on offense, they look extremely impressive. Most other teams you get iso ball or give and go, but the Lakers have phenomenal ball movement and really set up great plays.
Looking forward to seeing them get better honestly.

I don't quite trust teams that seem to be going at it seriously in pre-season. The Cavs too, they looked good but that came at the cost of actually already trying really hard and doing regular season rotations for the most part and regularly doing set plays.

I get the feeling these teams are already trying pretty hard and that when the baskets start to count they won't have much extra depth or ideas, but by that time they are going against teams that are actually running plays on offense and working hard on defense.

Both the Lakers and Cavs have had a MASSIVE shift in how their team's work (both due to Lebron) so they have more work than usual to get on the same page and click, so in that regard I don't blame them for approaching pre-season like this. But I don't trust it being any kind of indication of future play in the regular season.

[McFuu]

I don't quite trust teams that seem to be going at it seriously in pre-season. The Cavs too, they looked good but that came at the cost of actually already trying really hard and doing regular season rotations for the most part and regularly doing set plays.

I get the feeling these teams are already trying pretty hard and that when the baskets start to count they won't have much extra depth or ideas, but by that time they are going against teams that are actually running plays on offense and working hard on defense.

Both the Lakers and Cavs have had a MASSIVE shift in how their team's work (both due to Lebron) so they have more work than usual to get on the same page and click, so in that regard I don't blame them for approaching pre-season like this. But I don't trust it being any kind of indication of future play in the regular season.

I don't know if I'd say they are going hard at it. Definitely not on defense, with the exception of McGee, but there is no stopping that guy from doing Mcgee things.

I would say they are playing the preseason version of what they want their offense to look like. They are also without Zo for a while since he is apparently getting knee surgery. If he makes it back for this season, his ball movement and off ball defense will be great for them.

If LeBron were playing the whole game, or they had their starters out their for a significant portion of the game, id say they are probably trying to hard. As it stands it looks like they are mainly testing player configurations and where they can put people. And I think, even running what looks like the whole bench, they are playing well as a team. They have some years of development, but if LeBron can stay a genetic freak and Zo can develop to replace an aging Rondo, plus pick up a strong bench pg, I can seem them as strong deep playoff contenders in 2 to 3 years.
But that's dependent on a fair amount of moving parts.

Zo is injury prone and not playing isn't making him better.
LeBron reminds me of a guy who is one injury away from being unreliable physically.
Front offices are going to front office, Lakers have a bit of that Yankee mentality of paying for names instead of developing as a team. Let's not forget they got rid of D Russell, who would have worked well Zo, getting each other up.
I also think they need to gain another big man potentially Zubac is looking better, but I think they need a presence down low. Mcgee and Zubac seem a little aloof.

[xskarma]

This Jimmy Butler/Minnesota Timberwolves situation is getting crazier by the minute.

First Jimmy demands a trade.
Then Minnesota extends Towns, with whom Jimmy apparently doesn't see eye to eye.
Weeks of bad negotiating happen, with eventually an almost deal to send Jimmy to the Heat that falls apart cause the Wolves put more demands on the table.
Then this Wednesday Jimmy goes into a Wolves practice, unannounced, subs himself into the 3rd stringers team playing the starters and proceeds to ball out so hard that he beats the starters twice, while yelling and cussing at everyone about how the team needs him and that Towns and other starters are soft.
Jimmy goes from that practice straight to a sit down interview with E!SPN and makes headlines everywhere.
And now today Jimmy leaked that there had been a players only meeting in which he buddied up with the Wolves players and made it abotu management, which now every Wolves players is denying ever happened.

6 days till season starts and who knows where this saga is going to go next. Crazy.

[xskarma]

Pretty good start to this game. Kinda nervy and the hurt guys (Hayward and Irving) have not scored yet despite some chances, but hopefully they can build from this.

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Turned out to be a fun game. Kyrie was kinda awful, and we still won by 15+. Going to be hard to stop this Celtics team.

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This GSW championship ring is ridiculous: https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1052388625864773632

You can take off the top part and reverse it. What on earth are they going to think of next?!

Also pretty safe bet that this will be used on more championship rings going forward. Cause there's nothing more that sports people like to do then to outdo each other.

[Deleted]

$190 million fucking dollars?! I'm actually starting to hate the NBA.

what's the problem? NBA generates money and players get paid. do you want this money to stay in NBA/team owners pocket??

if you don't like it tell people to stop paying tickets, merchandising, and whatever it cost to watch games on tv. revenue will go down and players will get less money....

[Blueobelisk]

Can anyone find a google calendar with the good NBA matches. There are some lame ass homer team calendars, but I specifically want to see the nationally televised games on my calendar.

[Blueobelisk]

Real question: Who are the good teams this year?

GSW for sure.
LAL maybe.
Who else?

[Blueobelisk]

I've got the LAL game on my TV (but I don't have glasses on, and not focusing on it).

They just advertised League of Legends. Wtf.

[xskarma]

They just advertised League of Legends. Wtf.

They had a specific one featuring a animated Gordon Hayward going through his injury and coming back during Celtics first game. Was really cool.

EDIT: This one: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/dFeD/league-...y-kensue-ushio

[Blueobelisk]

I saw that! I was like "is this really for the NBA lol"? I thought it was some cartoon commercial.

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ESPN

Boston, Toronto, Philly on the East. Homer pick but the Bucks could win 50+ games things go well.

GSW, Utah, Lakers and the Rockets in the west.

Those four teams are playing on that channel you mentioned tonight. I guess I'll have to watch.

[xskarma]

I saw that! I was like "is this really for the NBA lol"? I thought it was some cartoon commercial.

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Those four teams are playing on that channel you mentioned tonight. I guess I'll have to watch.

Boston at Toronto will be hype. Toronto has a good home crowd so the atmosphere will be cool. Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry vs the Celtics young core is going to tell both teams a lot about where they stand.

Hopefully I can stay awake long enough to watch. Have to be up at 9 am tomorrow though and this game will likely take till past 4 am my time to complete. We'll see.

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This game has barely started and you can already see that these teams are oooozing potential. Going to be a good one. Go Celtics!

[xskarma]

Yeah, this game is over. Toronto win on a couple of dagger 3's and a great chase down block for a 10-0 run in the last 2 min. Was a GREAT game, no joke, play off quality basketball.

Not too disappointed, cause Celtics have lost 10 of the last 11 in Toronto, but this is definitely setting up to be the fight for the East crown. The Sixers weren't on this level at all that's for sure.

[PokeKitty]

Hope the Raptors plays that well in the playoffs lol.

Leonard adds so much to the team, the moment he comes in, opposing team is scoring less, his defense is so special.

[xskarma]

Hope the Raptors plays that well in the playoffs lol.

Leonard adds so much to the team, the moment he comes in, opposing team is scoring less, his defense is so special.

Eh. Leonard was important, but it was Lowry and Danny Green that killed us. Lowry basically changed the last 2 min on his own and Danny Green did so many little things well he ended up with a monstrous +25 in +/- rating.

I also don;t think Leonard is even close to being himself again. He's definitely rusty, but he made great strides in getting back to form.


You know who also did? Gordon Hayward. After seeing him struggle in pre-season, I was sure it would take him weeks to get back to even acceptable starter levels of play again, but that's definitely not the case. He was kinda awesome in limited minutes yesterday. He's definitely behind Leonard in his come back from injury and shaking off the rust though. But getting better!


Going to be interesting to see them take on Knicks today, which should be a much easier game, so there might be some room for experiments but also potentially room for some rest to starters down the stretch if the game is in hand. I don;t think we will see Hayward or Kyrie much in the closing minutes if the game is in hand (Kyrie is clearly also still working his way back in).

[Rennadrel]

Eh. Leonard was important, but it was Lowry and Danny Green that killed us. Lowry basically changed the last 2 min on his own and Danny Green did so many little things well he ended up with a monstrous +25 in +/- rating.

I also don;t think Leonard is even close to being himself again. He's definitely rusty, but he made great strides in getting back to form.


You know who also did? Gordon Hayward. After seeing him struggle in pre-season, I was sure it would take him weeks to get back to even acceptable starter levels of play again, but that's definitely not the case. He was kinda awesome in limited minutes yesterday. He's definitely behind Leonard in his come back from injury and shaking off the rust though. But getting better!


Going to be interesting to see them take on Knicks today, which should be a much easier game, so there might be some room for experiments but also potentially room for some rest to starters down the stretch if the game is in hand. I don;t think we will see Hayward or Kyrie much in the closing minutes if the game is in hand (Kyrie is clearly also still working his way back in).

Lowry was pretty bad in the preseason for us too, so you aren't alone in having a star player be a concern at the start of the season. Looks like both Hayward and Lowry will be just fine this year.

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Yeah, this game is over. Toronto win on a couple of dagger 3's and a great chase down block for a 10-0 run in the last 2 min. Was a GREAT game, no joke, play off quality basketball.

Not too disappointed, cause Celtics have lost 10 of the last 11 in Toronto, but this is definitely setting up to be the fight for the East crown. The Sixers weren't on this level at all that's for sure.

I too am looking forward to the trash talk that will come between Raptors and Celtics fans this season. Too many pundits think the Sixers have a shot but I don't think they are even in the same league as the Celtics and Raptors right now as far as talent and experience goes. They are just a young team with a lot of high hopes right now.