*NBA THREAD* Abe will be missed (8 Viewers)

[Gr00vus]

I still don't understand why Miller got the ball at the end of that game or what he thought he was doing with it when he got it. I know he came through in game 1, but it still needed to be Lawson or Iggy (given how hot he was from 3 last night) taking the shot.

 

[pollardsvision]

Warriors are great, but Spurs in 5.

Spurs will carve up the W's defense. When the Curry/Klay have a half where they go 2-15 or something, they'll be down by 20. Not still in it like against the Nuggets.

Spurs also won't go through long stretches of being completely lost on defense.

 

[Gr00vus]

Sorry for the hippling but...

I know you're way more tuned in to the Ws than me, but over the course of the season and this series it's struck me that despite Biedrins and Jefferson, they've done a fantastic job putting this team together. ####, they had 3 rookies as serious contributors, 2 of them getting big minutes in crunch time - and they're delivering. Getting Bogut is paying off big right now (if he can stay healthy), the Jack and Landry pick ups were genius. Really solid team built around Curry right now.

 

[Village Idiot]

Warriors are great, but Spurs in 5.

Spurs will carve up the W's defense. When the Curry/Klay have a half where they go 2-15 or something, they'll be down by 20. Not still in it like against the Nuggets.

Spurs also won't go through long stretches of being completely lost on defense.

So no credit to the W's for going 2-2 vs. the Spurs this year?

Both teams were undefeated at home against each other.

 

[Short Corner]

I am not sure he doubled. He may have but the replay isn't conclusive, and given what they get away with ie traveling, carrying you give him the benefit of the doubt.

He had two hands on the ball. The replay is hardly inconclusive.

I thought so too when I first saw the highlight, but you can't tell if the off hand actually comes in contact with the ball. It comes over like he is going to pick it up, but this happens quite often. I don't see anything definitive on the replay.

 

[Controller]

Sorry for the hippling but...

I know you're way more tuned in to the Ws than me, but over the course of the season and this series it's struck me that despite Biedrins and Jefferson, they've done a fantastic job putting this team together. ####, they had 3 rookies as serious contributors, 2 of them getting big minutes in crunch time - and they're delivering. Getting Bogut is paying off big right now (if he can stay healthy), the Jack and Landry pick ups were genius. Really solid team built around Curry right now.

Agree with this. Compared to previous Warriors ownership, this group is a much-welcomed breath of fresh air. Yeah, the Bogut-Ellis trade was booed, but that great article that was posted earlier in this thread explained why. Lacob and his partners have the franchise going in a new & better direction.

The Jack & Landry pick ups were inspired. The four rookies all contirbuted this year. Barnes as a starter, Ezeli has shown some great defensive and shot-blocking potential, Draymond Green is a beast - it's hard to believe that every NBA team passed on him at least once in last year's draft, and Bazemore is already probably the Warriors best defensive player. And don't forget that the Warriors 6th man from last year, Brandon Rush, missed this entire season but should be back next year. Also, often overlooked is the defensive play of Klay Thompson. He & Curry are getting mentioned now as a great 1-2 guard combo on offense, but Thompson is often asked to shut down the other team's best offensive player, and he's usually up to the challenge.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

This should have happened long ago. And should have happened after they amestied Perkins (and kept Harden). There's little difference between the two other than Collison a bit better offensively. I really don't know what purpose at all that Perkins serves in today's NBA.

Beat writer Darnell Mayberry expects Nick Collison to play more in Friday's Game 6 vs. Houston.
Scott Brooks has very strangely not played Collison over 20 minutes in any game, and it's about time he proved capable of making an adjustment when it's desperately needed. Collison averaged 19.5 minutes during the regular season but has not played that much in any game during the playoffs.

 

[pollardsvision]

Warriors are great, but Spurs in 5.

Spurs will carve up the W's defense. When the Curry/Klay have a half where they go 2-15 or something, they'll be down by 20. Not still in it like against the Nuggets.

Spurs also won't go through long stretches of being completely lost on defense.

So no credit to the W's for going 2-2 vs. the Spurs this year?

Both teams were undefeated at home against each other.

I believe the Spurs sat everyone for one of the GSW wins.

GSW is a nice team on the way up. But they just beat a fairly flawed team that couldn't make them pay for their weaknesses and cold stretches.

I hope it's a nice long series, but I have a feeling the Spurs are simply going to be too much for GSW to handle. We'll see.

 

[Kev4029]

Bogut went nuts last night.

The W's played much better D than I was expecting.

I'll be rooting for the Ws but I think the Spurs take it in 6 or 7. I wonder if Lee will be able to play much, if at all.

I know Curry is getting the majority of the credit in this series, but I don't think he was their best player for much of the series, Bogut was. He kept Lawson and company from getting clean looks near the hoop whenever he was in. The shooting really hurt the Nuggets but not killing the Warriors in the paint is what really cost the Nuggets the series.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Warriors are great, but Spurs in 5.

Spurs will carve up the W's defense. When the Curry/Klay have a half where they go 2-15 or something, they'll be down by 20. Not still in it like against the Nuggets.

Spurs also won't go through long stretches of being completely lost on defense.

So no credit to the W's for going 2-2 vs. the Spurs this year?

Both teams were undefeated at home against each other.

Nuggets were 3-1 vs the Warriors and the loss was by 1 point.

Regular season matchups mean very, very little.

 

[Kev4029]

Nobody is going to touch the McGee contract. That was just a colossal mistake from the beginning and one the nuggets will have to live with unless they are taking back another liability.

If McGee was worth his contract on the open market, which I have no doubt he was, he had to be resigned. And there is certainly a market for McGee who had a 20.78 PER this season (higher than Bosh, Horford, M Gasol, Howard and a whole bunch of other tip flight bigs), a .163 WS/48 (again, ahead of many of the top bigs in the NBA) and blocks a higher percentage of shots than any player in the NBA by a large margin (8.5% of all shots, Sanders was 2nd at 7.6%). Plus he will still be 25 years at the start of next season so he will continue to improve through the end of his contract. Its easy to paint a very rosy picture of JaVale McGee, if they are looking to trade him.

 

[Kev4029]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

 

[Gr00vus]

Bogut went nuts last night.

The W's played much better D than I was expecting.

I'll be rooting for the Ws but I think the Spurs take it in 6 or 7. I wonder if Lee will be able to play much, if at all.

I know Curry is getting the majority of the credit in this series, but I don't think he was their best player for much of the series, Bogut was. He kept Lawson and company from getting clean looks near the hoop whenever he was in. The shooting really hurt the Nuggets but not killing the Warriors in the paint is what really cost the Nuggets the series.

That's what gives me hope that the Ws can give the Spurs a series. Then again I expect Duncan will put more fouls on Bogut than the Nugget big men were able to.

Here's a question - are the W's better off without Lee? I think it helps them on D, but I don't know that the improved D makes up for what they lose on offense. And Lee is a good rebounder.

 

[Gr00vus]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

That's awful all the way around. Just pay her the extra $200,000 and be done with it.

 

[Kev4029]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

That's awful all the way around. Just pay her the extra $200,000 and be done with it.

His mom seems like a #####. When parents and children don't get along, more often than not its the parent who screwed it up.

 

[Gr00vus]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

That's awful all the way around. Just pay her the extra $200,000 and be done with it.

His mom seems like a #####. When parents and children don't get along, more often than not its the parent who screwed it up.

Sure, I'm just saying make it go away as quietly and quickly as possible. I wonder how much the legal proceedings with cost him. I don't know how much other stuff like this his parents have pulled though - if it's going on all the time I guess you eventually just have to tell them no.

 

[Kev4029]

Bogut went nuts last night.

The W's played much better D than I was expecting.

I'll be rooting for the Ws but I think the Spurs take it in 6 or 7. I wonder if Lee will be able to play much, if at all.

I know Curry is getting the majority of the credit in this series, but I don't think he was their best player for much of the series, Bogut was. He kept Lawson and company from getting clean looks near the hoop whenever he was in. The shooting really hurt the Nuggets but not killing the Warriors in the paint is what really cost the Nuggets the series.

That's what gives me hope that the Ws can give the Spurs a series. Then again I expect Duncan will put more fouls on Bogut than the Nugget big men were able to.

Here's a question - are the W's better off without Lee? I think it helps them on D, but I don't know that the improved D makes up for what they lose on offense. And Lee is a good rebounder.

They are absolutely a better team with Lee, I just don't think that was the case for this series because the Nuggets style of play and Karl's insistence on playing Miller. Those three guard lineups with Bogut playing center just kicked the Nuggets ###.

 

[Kev4029]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

That's awful all the way around. Just pay her the extra $200,000 and be done with it.

His mom seems like a #####. When parents and children don't get along, more often than not its the parent who screwed it up.

Sure, I'm just saying make it go away as quietly and quickly as possible. I wonder how much the legal proceedings with cost him. I don't know how much other stuff like this his parents have pulled though - if it's going on all the time I guess you eventually just have to tell them no.

In actual dollars? I can't imagine it really matters to him.

 

[Gr00vus]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

That's awful all the way around. Just pay her the extra $200,000 and be done with it.

His mom seems like a #####. When parents and children don't get along, more often than not its the parent who screwed it up.

Sure, I'm just saying make it go away as quietly and quickly as possible. I wonder how much the legal proceedings with cost him. I don't know how much other stuff like this his parents have pulled though - if it's going on all the time I guess you eventually just have to tell them no.

In actual dollars? I can't imagine it really matters to him.

Well he's basically going to court over $200K so at some point it matters to him.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Good to see Kobe and his mom have such a loving relationship.

That's awful all the way around. Just pay her the extra $200,000 and be done with it.

His mom seems like a #####. When parents and children don't get along, more often than not its the parent who screwed it up.

Sure, I'm just saying make it go away as quietly and quickly as possible. I wonder how much the legal proceedings with cost him. I don't know how much other stuff like this his parents have pulled though - if it's going on all the time I guess you eventually just have to tell them no.

In actual dollars? I can't imagine it really matters to him.

Well he's basically going to court over $200K so at some point it matters to him.

Or he is going to court to piss off his mom.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Nugs should consider getting rid of Karl and hiring the "Good Job, Good Effort" kid. Heat are 10-1 in the playoffs since his stirring motivational speech rallied the troops to another level in the postseason.

 

[Kev4029]

Nugs should consider getting rid of Karl and hiring the "Good Job, Good Effort" kid. Heat are 10-1 in the playoffs since his stirring motivational speech rallied the troops to another level in the postseason.

Seems like more of a college coaching personality, IMO.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Nugs should consider getting rid of Karl and hiring the "Good Job, Good Effort" kid. Heat are 10-1 in the playoffs since his stirring motivational speech rallied the troops to another level in the postseason.

Seems like more of a college coaching personality, IMO.

Got the job done at the highest level, though.

 

[thecatch]

Nobody is going to touch the McGee contract. That was just a colossal mistake from the beginning and one the nuggets will have to live with unless they are taking back another liability.

If McGee was worth his contract on the open market, which I have no doubt he was, he had to be resigned. And there is certainly a market for McGee who had a 20.78 PER this season (higher than Bosh, Horford, M Gasol, Howard and a whole bunch of other tip flight bigs), a .163 WS/48 (again, ahead of many of the top bigs in the NBA) and blocks a higher percentage of shots than any player in the NBA by a large margin (8.5% of all shots, Sanders was 2nd at 7.6%). Plus he will still be 25 years at the start of next season so he will continue to improve through the end of his contract. Its easy to paint a very rosy picture of JaVale McGee, if they are looking to trade him.

Best of luck spinning that tale and finding a taker for him. I'd be happy to eat crow if the nuggets flip him into an asset, and they were able to get from under the Harrington and afflalo contracts, but I don't see it happening here. I'd recommend that the nuggets call the Maloofs and give the family one more opportunity to flip the fans the finger on the way out the door by dealing something of value for McGee.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

McGee for Bargnani.

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

Nugs should consider getting rid of Karl and hiring the "Good Job, Good Effort" kid. Heat are 10-1 in the playoffs since his stirring motivational speech rallied the troops to another level in the postseason.

Seems like more of a college coaching personality, IMO.

Got the job done at the highest level, though.

Had to watch the original good job good effort clip.. been too long.

 

[Raider Nation]

Royce White will likely go down as the worst draft pick of all time for the Rockets. He is the gift that keeps giving. His recent tweets to Durant and Thunder

"And... that's why you play the games. That @okcthunder team just looked shook. They're looking shaky baby."White followed with another tweet to Durant."@KDTrey5... Y'all are looking SHAAAKYY BAAABYY."

No, seriously! all jokes aside @KDTrey5 is a beast, but with all due respect last 2 games they've been looking #SHAAAKYY... All due respect!

At least he added all due respect in his last tweet, what an embarrassment.

That is off-the-charts pathetic. Things Royce White should be doing before tweeting:

1) Dig a hole 20 feet deep, crawl into it and stay there.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Bogut went nuts last night. The W's played much better D than I was expecting. I'll be rooting for the Ws but I think the Spurs take it in 6 or 7. I wonder if Lee will be able to play much, if at all.

I know Curry is getting the majority of the credit in this series, but I don't think he was their best player for much of the series, Bogut was. He kept Lawson and company from getting clean looks near the hoop whenever he was in. The shooting really hurt the Nuggets but not killing the Warriors in the paint is what really cost the Nuggets the series.

Here's a question - are the W's better off without Lee? I think it helps them on D, but I don't know that the improved D makes up for what they lose on offense. And Lee is a good rebounder.

No, but I don't think they lose much on offense. Jack allows Curry to play off the ball and Jack can get to the hoop whenever he wants. Monumental loss if the Warriors can't re-sign him. The guy is great at breaking down the defense. Would get my vote for most underrated player in the league right now. Rebounding is where losing Lee hurts. Athletic bigs with size (McGee/Faried) were hurting the Warriors on the offensive board. If Karl doesn't play Doofus/Koufus, whatever that idiot's name is, this series is heading to a 7th game. Words can't express the idiocy of that guy seeing 20 minutes last night.

 

[Raider Nation]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

 

[Kev4029]

McGee for Bargnani.

That's the exact type of player they need, only if he could rebound, shoot or didn't have an albatross of a contract. The Nuggets could almost play a whiteout lineup with Fournier, Gallo, Bargnani and Koufos.

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

 

[Kev4029]

Nobody is going to touch the McGee contract. That was just a colossal mistake from the beginning and one the nuggets will have to live with unless they are taking back another liability.

If McGee was worth his contract on the open market, which I have no doubt he was, he had to be resigned. And there is certainly a market for McGee who had a 20.78 PER this season (higher than Bosh, Horford, M Gasol, Howard and a whole bunch of other tip flight bigs), a .163 WS/48 (again, ahead of many of the top bigs in the NBA) and blocks a higher percentage of shots than any player in the NBA by a large margin (8.5% of all shots, Sanders was 2nd at 7.6%). Plus he will still be 25 years at the start of next season so he will continue to improve through the end of his contract. Its easy to paint a very rosy picture of JaVale McGee, if they are looking to trade him.

Best of luck spinning that tale and finding a taker for him. I'd be happy to eat crow if the nuggets flip him into an asset, and they were able to get from under the Harrington and afflalo contracts, but I don't see it happening here. I'd recommend that the nuggets call the Maloofs and give the family one more opportunity to flip the fans the finger on the way out the door by dealing something of value for McGee.

Its really not an exaggeration or misrepresentation. Hes a very effective offensive big man with amazing hands and fantastic timing for blocks on the defensive end. Obviously he makes terrible decisions on the defensive end and is constantly out of position but if he had somebody like Anthony Davis (as opposed to Faried who makes similar mistakes with positioning) to help clean up some of his mistakes, he could look really good.

 

[Kev4029]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

I think that is a played out response.

 

[Raider Nation]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

I think that is a played out response.

Only he was dead serious.

 

[Kev4029]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

I think that is a played out response.

Only he was dead serious.

I'm a little disappointed in Durant then.

 

[Raider Nation]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

I think that is a played out response.

Only he was dead serious.

I'm a little disappointed in Durant then.

Why?

 

[Raider Nation]

Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant had a response for Royce White’s Twitter observation that he and the Thunder looked “Shaaakyy.”

“Who’s he?” Durant said.

When told that White is the Rockets rookie first-round pick from Iowa State, Durant seemed to remember.

“I haven’t seen him on the bench,” Durant said. “He hasn’t played against us so I’m not worried about guys that’s not even in our series. Ain’t that the guy that can’t, that’s afraid to fly? I wish him the best. If I see him next year, I’ll let him know who we are.”

 

[Raider Nation]

Denver Nuggets forward Andre Iguodala is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract, forgoing $16 million in salary he would be owed next season, reports the Denver Post.

If Iguodala opts out he will be an unrestricted free agent, and the $16 million salary for next season is a player option. He made just under $15 million in the 2012-13 season.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Deal Koufos for a shooter IF you're going to deal a big.

I wouldn't even consider dealing McGee. One you aren't getting equal value in return for his $34+ mil over 3 remaining with Karl inexplicably playing him 18 minutes/game this regular season.

The Denver Post says GM Masai Ujiri was not happy about the "lack of attention" given to JaVale McGee's growth this season.
Ujiri gave McGee a $44M contract last summer and then watched coach George Karl give him 18.1 minutes per game. It's something that simply shouldn't be acceptable going forward. Although McGee has a ton of warts, his raw ability dwarfs that of Kosta Koufos. If the Nuggets are going to win without a superstar, McGee has to be a big part of it. We wouldn't be surprised if Ujiri implores Karl to start McGee and give him 25-plus minutes next season

 

[Kev4029]

Deal Koufos for a shooter IF you're going to deal a big.

I wouldn't even consider dealing McGee. One you aren't getting equal value in return for his $34+ mil over 3 remaining with Karl inexplicably playing him 18 minutes/game this regular season.

The Denver Post says GM Masai Ujiri was not happy about the "lack of attention" given to JaVale McGee's growth this season.
Ujiri gave McGee a $44M contract last summer and then watched coach George Karl give him 18.1 minutes per game. It's something that simply shouldn't be acceptable going forward. Although McGee has a ton of warts, his raw ability dwarfs that of Kosta Koufos. If the Nuggets are going to win without a superstar, McGee has to be a big part of it. We wouldn't be surprised if Ujiri implores Karl to start McGee and give him 25-plus minutes next season

This series notwithstanding, Koufos is a better basketball player and he has probably the cheapest multiyear contract of any decent center in the NBA. His $3M a year would be a decent deal for a playable 5th big.

Denver Nuggets forward Andre Iguodala is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract, forgoing $16 million in salary he would be owed next season, reports the Denver Post.If Iguodala opts out he will be an unrestricted free agent, and the $16 million salary for next season is a player option. He made just under $15 million in the 2012-13 season.

That was expected. I'm hoping he is game for a 3 yr $36M contract or maybe something like 5/$50M.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

McGee for Bargnani.

That's the exact type of player they need, only if he could rebound, shoot or didn't have an albatross of a contract. The Nuggets could almost play a whiteout lineup with Fournier, Gallo, Bargnani and Koufos.

DEAL!

 

[[icon]]

What happens when you load the entire clippers team into a Jacuzzi at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis last night? Brotherly Love.

NTTAWTT

#grindhouse

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Warriors are great, but Spurs in 5.

Spurs will carve up the W's defense. When the Curry/Klay have a half where they go 2-15 or something, they'll be down by 20. Not still in it like against the Nuggets.

Spurs also won't go through long stretches of being completely lost on defense.

So no credit to the W's for going 2-2 vs. the Spurs this year?

Both teams were undefeated at home against each other.

Nuggets were 3-1 vs the Warriors and the loss was by 1 point.

Regular season matchups mean very, very little.

And if you want to use matchups between the W's and Spurs...

From Simmon's column:

Golden State has never beaten Duncan in San Antonio. Not for 16 solid years. In games he actually played, he's 28-0 at home against the Warriors and 19-6 in Oakland. You read that correctly: 47-6

 

[TobiasFunke]

Simmons and everyone else really should stop with the parallels between the Celtics potential comeback over the Knicks and the Sox-Yankees series in 2004. That was the ALCS, with the winner advancing to and being favored to win the World Series. This is the first round of the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs that will be won three weeks from now by the Miami Heat. Not exactly the same stakes.

 

[[icon]]

Simmons and everyone else really should stop with the parallels between the Celtics potential comeback over the Knicks and the Sox-Yankees series in 2004. That was the ALCS, with the winner advancing to and being favored to win the World Series. This is the first round of the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs that will be won three weeks from now by the Miami Heat. Not exactly the same stakes.

And this, from a fan of all boston teams.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Simmons and everyone else really should stop with the parallels between the Celtics potential comeback over the Knicks and the Sox-Yankees series in 2004. That was the ALCS, with the winner advancing to and being favored to win the World Series. This is the first round of the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs that will be won three weeks from now by the Miami Heat. Not exactly the same stakes.

It's crazy that they're even talking about a 3-0 comeback. Game 6 is tonight, not game 7. Espn is creating a story.

 

[Abraham]

I expect okc, New York, and Memphis to close out tonight.

 

[Premier]

"Aint that the guy that cant, thats afraid to fly? I wish him the best. If I see him next year, Ill let him know who we are.

So good.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

This is the first round of the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs that will be won three weeks from now by the Miami Heat. Not exactly the same stakes.

Don't watch ESPN, but it's a ludicrous comparison if being made. Neither Boston nor New York have any shot of the title. Hell, merge the teams and they still wouldn't win it.

 

[Kev4029]

This is the first round of the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs that will be won three weeks from now by the Miami Heat. Not exactly the same stakes.

Don't watch ESPN, but it's a ludicrous comparison if being made. Neither Boston nor New York have any shot of the title. Hell, merge the teams and they still wouldn't win it.

I know you weren't really meaning anything by the last sentence but how many games would this team win?

PG: Ray Felton, Avery Bradley, Jason Terry

SG: Iman Shumpert, JR Smith, Jason Kidd

SF: Paul Pierce, Steve Novak

PF:Carmelo Anthony, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass

C: Kevin Garnett, Tyson Chandler

If Rondo and Amare were healthy I would say 72+. This team would probably win 65+ and could throw enough good defenders at the Heat and score with Pierce, Melo and JR that they would take the the Heat in something like 5 or 6 games.