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  1. #1
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    2018-2019 NBA thread





    Welcome everyone to the 2018-2019 NBA Thread


    Where we discuss the 2018-2019 NBA season from the July Moratorium days of Free Agency, all the way to the NBA Finals of this season in June 2019, with all the news and all the games that go on in between.


    Thread Rules:

    There aren't many specific rules in this thread other than the normal forum rules that apply everywhere. We expect people to follow the spirit of the thread and the forum, mostly by respecting that every one has a favorite team and is entitled to cheer for them. Some banter is fine, insulting and trolling is not.

    We also ask to keep the discussion largely centered around the current season and to leave in depth discussions about which team or player from yesteryear was better than which other team/player to threads made to discuss such a topic.



    Links to Previous Threads:

    2011-2014 NBA thread: Link
    2014-2015 NBA thread: Link
    2015-2017 NBA thread: Link
    2017-2018 NBA thread: Link


    Interesting things about the 2018-2019 season:


    This season will be the 73rd season of the National Basketball Association.

    This season will be the Philadelphia 76ers 70th season in the NBA.
    This season will be the Orlando Magic 30th season in the NBA.
    This season will be the Minnesota Timberwolves 30th season in the NBA.
    This season will be the Los Angeles Lakers 70th season in the NBA.
    This season will be the Sacramento Kings 70th season in the NBA.
    This season will be the Utah Jazz 45th season in the NBA.

    This season will be the Utah Jazz 40th season of the franchise in Salt Lake City.
    This season will be the Los Angeles Clippers 35th in Los Angeles.

    This season will be the Milwaukee Bucks' first season at the new Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center.
    This season will be the Golden State Warriors' final season at Oracle Arena in Oakland.


    The Dallas Mavericks and the Philadelphia 76ers will play two preseason games in China at Shanghai on October 5 and Shenzhen on October 8.

    2019 NBA All-Star Game will be played on February 17, 2019, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina


    2018-2019 NBA Finals winner odds:


    Golden State Warriors, 5/4

    Houston Rockets, 7/2

    Philadelphia 76ers, 7/2

    Boston Celtics, 8/1

    Los Angeles Lakers, 20/1

    Miami Heat, 20/1

    San Antonio Spurs, 25/1

    Cleveland Cavaliers, 30/1

    Toronto Raptors, 40/1

    Oklahoma City Thunder, 60/1

    Utah Jazz, 60/1

    Minnesota Timberwolves, 80/1

    New Orleans Pelicans, 80/1

    Portland Blazers, 80/1

    Denver Nuggets, 100/1

    Indiana Pacers, 100/1

    Los Angeles Clippers, 100/1

    Milwaukee Bucks, 100/1

    New York Knicks, 100/1

    Washington Wizards, 100/1

    Phoenix Suns, 200/1

    Brooklyn Nets, 300/1

    Charlotte Hornets, 300/1

    Chicago Bulls, 300/1

    Dallas Mavericks, 300/1

    Detroit Pistons, 300/1

    Sacramento Kings, 300/1

    Memphis Grizzlies, 500/1

    Orlando Magic, 500/1

    Atlanta Hawks, 1000/1



    So what can we expect for the 2018-2019 season:


    June 29 — Last day for decisions on player, team and early termination options, unless individual contracts specify otherwise.

    June 30 — Last official day of 2017/18 league year; last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.

    July 1 — Official start of 2018/19 league year; July moratorium begins. Free agents can begin reaching verbal agreements with teams.

    July 6 — July moratorium ends (11:00am CT); teams can begin officially signing players and making trades.

    July 13 — Last day for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents.

    July 15 — Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned first-round picks; those players become free agents on July 16 if not tendered.

    August ?? — The 2018-2019 NBA schedule will be released between first week of August and the second week of August.

    August 31 — Last day teams may waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2018/19 salaries.

    September 5 — Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned second-round picks; those players become free agents on September 6 if not tendered.


    Late September (specific dates TBA) — Training camps open. Pre-season games are played.




    Playoff Predictions tournament:


    Will link spreadsheet here when it gets time for the playoffs and Blueobelisk starts it again.



    Some of the last posts in the previous thread:


    Quote Originally Posted by xskarma View Post
    "The Denver Nuggets filed paperwork to decline the team option on star Nikola Jokic’s contract late Monday night, clearing the way to sign him to what likely will be a 5-year, approximately $147 million maximum contract in July, league sources told ESPN." - Woj

    Jokic getting PAID.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tonus View Post
    At this point it feels like it's a rarity that the MVP actually goes to the most valuable player. Lebron has been the most valuable player in the league every year since 2006. Steph Curry two years ago is the only person who really challenged him in my opinion.

    In 2005 it was maybe Tim Duncan. From 1999-2004 it was Shaq.

    So over those 20 years, the most valuable player has won the award 25% of the time (4 times by Lebron, once by Shaq).
    Quote Originally Posted by Wermys View Post
    Yes and no, some teams are extremely smart. But then work to shoot themselves in the foot. The 76ers never should have fired Hinckey. His strategy has paved the way for them to be the next big franchise along with the other competently run Celtics. While you have teams like my Timberwolves who make dumb decisions, first trading Lavine instead of Wiggins to the Bulls. Then previously jerking Kevin Love around and then idiotic drafting like passing on Curry not once, but twice in the same draft. On the other hand you have Myers out of Golden State who does well in talent evaluation as well as RC and Popp in San Antonio. The biggest issue with the NBA is frankly the players colluding with each other to form these "super teams" But I expect that to go away during the next time union renegotiates with the league. The NBA is finally ditching a lot of the old thought processes and moving to analytics for seeing who to draft etc. It's why you are now seeing teams stubbornly refusing to give up the 2021 picks now because of the likelyhood of highschoolers once again being able to enter the draft. Eventually the Minnesota and the Sacramento's will find someone who is competent to run the franchise. Oh and we have a small forward someone can trade for, only 22 years old athletic and can score!!!! Please message Thibideoux with trade offers!

    Lastly,


    We hope everyone that likes basketball will join us as we go on the journey to learn who will eventually follow last year's winners the Golden State Warriors as the 2018-2019 NBA Finals winners.

    Have at it, ladies and gentlemen!

    signed, the mods.

  2. #2
    Kevin Durant opting out. No big surprise, he has stated he wont be taking a paycut and he will almost certainly resign with the Warriors for the max. But if something crazy were to happen this would be the quickest route to a more balanced NBA.
    Last edited by Faltemer; 2018-06-26 at 11:10 PM.

  3. #3
    Mind if I roll need? xskarma's Avatar
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    "The Los Angeles Clippers are trading guard Austin Rivers to the Washington Wizards for center Marcin Gortat, league sources tell ESPN." - Woj

    Doc Rivers actually traded his son! And the Wizards apparently trying to make some moves in order to shake things up. Gortat was clearly on a shirt leash when John Wall called him out some time ago, and the Wizards did as Wall wanted and got rid of Gortat.



    Also: Knew it was a good idea to start the thread early in case some crazy trades or rumours would happen. At least all of it will be in one thread now.

  4. #4
    Rivers, isn't a bad player now, when his dad decided to get him on the clippers he basically salvaged his career. And then the contract they signed with him was pretty fair. He is just now a competent nba player which is what most people expected of him. If anything, Rivers better get Doc a great fathers day gift.

  5. #5
    So Marcin Gortat to the Clippers mean anything for Deandre Jordan? Are they expecting him to not resign with them I wonder? =o

  6. #6
    Herald of the Titans Racthoh's Avatar
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    Thought this was interesting, there's a reddit thread showing someone who posted that lebron's friend is hinting at him going to the lakers - twitter link

    And it's only interesting because the day before lebron announced his decision to return to cleveland in 2014, that same friend posted this hint - instagram link

    I wouldn't say it's necessarily credible but who knows

  7. #7
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    So how do we rate Gortat? Deandre Jordan has a different playstyle to Gortat, it will be interesting to see new tactics from Wizards.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Racthoh View Post
    Thought this was interesting, there's a reddit thread showing someone who posted that lebron's friend is hinting at him going to the lakers - twitter link

    And it's only interesting because the day before lebron announced his decision to return to cleveland in 2014, that same friend posted this hint - instagram link

    I wouldn't say it's necessarily credible but who knows
    That is some GOOD sleuthing. NBA rumor mill and league wide gossip is the best of any sports league. I've come to greatly enjoy these NBA off seasons for exactly stuff like this, and that Colangelo thing a few weeks back. Love it, even if it turns out totally false.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by xskarma View Post
    Doc Rivers actually traded his son!
    Nope. Austin was finally traded because ownership took away Doc's GM powers. He is only a coach now.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tonus View Post
    https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/6...2018-offseason

    Article about the "most interesting" restricted free agents in the offseason. There are so many players out there who have some skills, but you just have to ask yourself, what's the point of this guy on a champion? And you just can't visualize it. Basically, it seems like there are only 2 types of players who matter right now: elite creators, and "3 and D" players.

    The list is full of talented players - Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon, Jusuf Nurkic, etc. - but with the exception of Gordon and maybe LaVine, none of them seem like they can work as a starter on a playoff team because the either can't shoot 3s well enough, or they can't play defense well enough.

    As a prime example, the Lakers have Julius Randle, who scored 16 points with 8 rebounds and shot 55% from the field last year as a 23 year old, and there's a real possibility the Lakers just let him go because he's not a good defender AND he can't shoot threes.

    It's cool to think that the league is gradually moving to a positionless system where everyone can switch on everyone else and every team has a primary creator surrounded by 4 shooters at all times, but I continue to be confused by how few teams are actually trying to do that despite the obvious success of the system, and who are drafting players (like Randle, or Bagley this year) who clearly don't fit.

    You might argue this is because the college game hasn't moved in that direction yet, so there aren't as many players that fit the mold coming out but the last two championships were won by Villanova. In 2018 their top 6 players included 4 guards and 2 forwards, all of them between 6'3" (Seth Curry's height, tall for a PG) and 6'9", and every one of them shot over 35% from three (they shot 38%! as a team). Villanova was playing a 4 guard offense back in 2006. And while the narrative in Golden State is that they got a once in a lifetime infusion of talent, Villanova has been successful for years without super elite recruiting classes. So maybe it's the system that explains it. Maybe Draymond Green isn't actually a Hall of Famer who other teams missed, maybe he lucked into playing for a team that actually plays the right system.I mean, hell, if PJ Tucker works as a starter in the playoffs doing similar things to Draymond, maybe he's not all that unique.

    I guess what I'm wondering if there's a Moneyball thing going on here, where people are blinded by "tools" and not looking at what actually translates to success in the NBA.

    I'm also not sure how I feel about this - I wish there was more diversity, that you could be successful with different types of players.
    I think some teams are smarter in that regard than others. There's a reason Danny Ainge went with the "surprise" pick and drafted a 6'7" wing with good defense and offensive potential in Jaylen Brown, and then repeated it the next draft with Jayson Tatum, despite the fact they knew they were likely bringing in Gordon Hayward AND had at that point Jae Crowder on the roster still as well.

    It's the same reason why some teams were so hot to get Doncic and were willing to trade up. Doncic is exactly that wing body type with offensive potential that today's superstars are made from.


    The problem is that shooting 3's is just proven to be better in pretty much every situation. So teams will always be rewarded by bringing in capable 3-and-D players. Get a couple of those, and put them around 2 or 3 elite players and you have a functional team that can go for a title.

    There's a catch though.

    In the playoffs, when things mattered most, in game 7 in the conference finals, there were 2 teams who had a legit inside game and 2 teams who just kept chucking up 3's and the 2 teams who had a legit inside and outside threat won.

    So, maybe this 3-and-D type player is not the be all and end all. Maybe sometimes you need to be able to just push it inside and get to the rim too for easy buckets in high pressure situations, where your shot might not be totally on point.

    I don;t know. I certainly wish that the Celtics would have gone inside more, let Jayson Tatum drive and get possible buckets and fouls, instead of the dogmatic insistence on continuing to find the open shot on the outside that hadn't dropped all game.


    So, maybe teams will have to find out (liek GSW did before they brought KD in) that you need to find a balance and it's not JUST chucking 3's and playing defense.

    The only other way to force it is to make adjustments to the 3 pointline and remove the short corners that shooters have now. I doubt the league will want to though, cause I don't think Basketball has ever been more popular then the last few years.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malmmoc View Post
    Nope. Austin was finally traded because ownership took away Doc's GM powers. He is only a coach now.
    Yeah, I kinda forgot Jerry West was there too now and that Doc had basically been releaved of his GM duties.

    He must have been in the know about it though! Can't have been easy.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Tonus View Post
    Yup - you need 1 guy who can do more than just 3 and D to be the focal point of the offense. Golden State has two guys like that (Curry and Durant), Cavs have (had?) Lebron, Rockets have Harden and Paul. It's better to have two of those guys so you have something when the main guy sits, but not totally necessary (Cavs would have been fine last year with just Lebron, GS was fine with only Curry before they got Durant).
    I'd say GSW still have Klay too and Cavs still have Love too and used to have Kyrie in that role as well. Both can do enough to be the featured part of the offense.

  12. #12
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    Here we go!

  13. #13
    Does Lebron take his talents to Houston now?

  14. #14
    Moderator Crissi's Avatar
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    I had a dream where Kawhi went to the Clippers, Lebron to the Spurs, and KD left Golden State...

    I have weird dreams.

  15. #15
    The Lightbringer ProphetFlume's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crissi View Post
    I had a dream where Kawhi went to the Clippers, Lebron to the Spurs, and KD left Golden State...

    I have weird dreams.
    Would be interesting to see him with a HoF coach.
    Quote Originally Posted by Gumboy View Post
    I'm not sure if you guys have noticed but sometimes I say things that are kind of dumb
    Quote Originally Posted by draynay View Post
    I just like reading about the "vigorous rubbing" that might affect ball inflation.

  16. #16
    Old God -aiko-'s Avatar
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    Rudy Gobert DPOY <3

  17. #17
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    Interesting day. DeAndre Jordan opted out of his 24M year with the Clippers and will be a free agent and apparently Lonzo Boll tore his left meniscus and will be out till Training camp.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Resourceful people have snapped a pic of LeBron arriving in LA. Free agency opens in a matter of hours.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Betting sites making the odds of LeBron going to the Lakers -5000. In other words you need to bet 5000 dollars to win 100. Betting sites usually know what's up.

    Shame that it will end this uneventful. Only question now is who joins LeBron in LA?

  18. #18
    Not sure why LBJ doesn't want to go to the Rockets first, pairing with Harden/CP3/Capela seems better to me.

    Pretty sure he thinks Harden want to be the main player on that team.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by PokeKitty View Post
    Not sure why LBJ doesn't want to go to the Rockets first, pairing with Harden/CP3/Capela seems better to me.

    Pretty sure he thinks Harden want to be the main player on that team.
    Money is the issue. It was almost impossible to get Harden AND re-sign CP3 AND re-sign Capela AND then bring in LeBron, in terms of money and cap space. In order for that to happen, LeBron had to opt in to his contract and get traded to Houston, but Houston had barely anything to trade with either to sweeten the deal.

    But he didn't opt in obviously so Houston was out the minute that happened.

    The problem is that opting in would have made going to Houston possible, but it would have made signing in LA harder, and that's where he most wants to be.

  20. #20
    And L.A. lets LBJ do movies. He was literally the only watchable part of the Amy Schumer movie Trainwreck.

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