I've got my super-homer glasses on, so I'm saying title contention in 2018.
For 2017, the expectation for progress for this team is to make the playoffs.
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Official NBA 15-16' Season Thread
- Thread starter trikx_insane
- Start date
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For 2017, the expectation for progress for this team is to make the playoffs.
Can see Utah making the playoffs this time next season.
Their front office still wants Dante Exum to be the starting PG. Only move in the starting five.
Exum - Hood - Hayward - Favors - Gobert
They need those guys to be healthy, and also their very nice sixth man, swingman Alec Burks, a very talented guy, but too much injury prone unfortunately.
They need some real upgrade to their bench, maybe they'll find a nice solution on Draft night, a guy like Denzel Valentine would be very nice but I'm afraid he won't be available around pick #13 or #14.
They can also trade Burks...
If this happens, I like Malik Beasley's game, a nice scoring shooting guard with great potentiel both on offense and defense, the freshman from Florida State can be a great player in the league, and will probably be available when Utah picks.
They can keep Ingles, Mack, Withey, Booker, too.
Their D is very nice, they just need to step up on offense, with more solutions maybe, and they'll make that damn post season.
Exum - Hood - Hayward - Favors - Gobert
They need those guys to be healthy, and also their very nice sixth man, swingman Alec Burks, a very talented guy, but too much injury prone unfortunately.
They need some real upgrade to their bench, maybe they'll find a nice solution on Draft night, a guy like Denzel Valentine would be very nice but I'm afraid he won't be available around pick #13 or #14.
They can also trade Burks...
If this happens, I like Malik Beasley's game, a nice scoring shooting guard with great potentiel both on offense and defense, the freshman from Florida State can be a great player in the league, and will probably be available when Utah picks.
They can keep Ingles, Mack, Withey, Booker, too.
Their D is very nice, they just need to step up on offense, with more solutions maybe, and they'll make that damn post season.
what a performance
I may have got the games wrong, but at least I got 3/4 matchups right.
Cavs in 5 - I desperately want Toronto to win. Prove me wrong and show me that regular season juggernaut exists.
Warriors in 6 - could see this going to 7 even if KD and Westbrook + role players all stay hot.
Cavs in 5 - I desperately want Toronto to win. Prove me wrong and show me that regular season juggernaut exists.
Warriors in 6 - could see this going to 7 even if KD and Westbrook + role players all stay hot.
as much as I think Cavs are gonna take this series, in 6 imo, part of me wants to see the Rapts beat the Cavs because it'll be cool to see them reach the Finals for the first time; but otherwise
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(1)Golden State Warriors versus (3) Oklahoma City Thunder
“I’ve gotten really good at ignoring people.” – Stephen Curry
“He’s a shooter… nothing I haven’t seen.” – Russell Westbrook
So, it turns out that Oklahoma City’s regular season weaknesses were rather lessons to help them grow over the past couple of weeks. What we all thought was originally going to be the clash of the Kings between Golden State and San Antonio (the best offensive efficient and defensive efficient, respectively) will instead be the clash of pace, space, and grace versus athleticism, physicality, and stardom.
I am very, very impressed with the way both teams got here. Golden State had their MVP injured and almost didn’t miss a beat in two different series. Some would argue that if Curry were still injured, we’d be talking about Portland instead; however, that doesn’t change the fact that this team is still top tier if their MVP isn’t having his A-game. The offensive creativity of Kerr as a second-year coach is simply unbelievable. I also feel like Thompson is growing into his own stardom as well.
Oklahoma City came back to show San Antonio that its #1 ranked defense in over ten years was not enough to stop it. After getting blown out by the biggest margin in the entire playoffs up to that point, Oklahoma City showed a serious amount perseverance and physicality I’ve never seen from their frontcourt ever.
How am I going to approach this match-up? Well, I think the biggest thing to note first is their contrast in style through their point guards. Curry is the graceful wizard who has the intelligence and shooting form rivaled by no one else. Westbrook is a physical specimen who can rebound as well as a big guy, run as fast as LeBron, and outmuscle anyone who’s anywhere near the same size as him.
Which style is better face-to-face? One thing I didn’t overlook from the second round was Westbrook’s continued mistakes, wasted possessions, and turnovers. Golden State is the #1 team in fastbreak scoring. All they need to do is reach a three point line that stretches around the actual goal by 25-30 feet as Green is likely outpacing your big man. That is a position nobody in the NBA wants to ever put themselves in, and with the way Westbrook plays, he has to be very, very careful… more careful than he ever has been in a series. Long rebounds, live-ball turnovers, and wasted offensive possessions will quickly spell death for Oklahoma City against a team as offensively graceful as Golden State.
Now, Curry and Westbrook may not even guard each other that much in this series. In fact, they may crossplay. Regular season meeting statistics show that Curry had an easier time, though. Golden State has multiple decent guys they can throw at Westbrook who have above-average defensive reputations. Livingston, Thompson, maybe even Barnes. Oklahoma City only really has Roberson and Waiters. These guys did a fantastic job on Leonard in the second-round, but Curry is a whole new level offensively from him. Kerry is probably too smart to have Curry guarding Westbrook for long stretches, so Westbrook is going to be the guard who has more to deal with. Everyone on Golden State’s perimeter is an offensive threat in some way. Westbrook has to be incredibly focused not to get constant fouls and to have guys like Thompson and Barnes getting hot. Meanwhile, Curry gets to relax. There are other ballhandlers for Golden State. Waiters and Roberson have to have a good series offensively to keep Curry honest.
Frontcourt wise, it’s a mystery as far as I’m concerned. Oklahoma City’s big line-up worked magic against San Antonio. They outrebounded them by huge numbers and stifled their frontcourt’s offense. Green is the engine who makes Golden State go, and if Adams and Kanter can kill Golden State on the glass, it’ll be that much harder for Golden State to get many points against a set Oklahoma City defense. At the same time, Kanter is really going to be tested on pick and roll defense this series. He is still absolutely shit at it, and Green is one of the most dangerous roll men in the league. I’m not sure what would be more effective for Oklahoma City as far as size goes… I like the sound of an Ibaka/Durant frontcourt running amuck as much as an Adams/Kanter frontcourt killing them on the glass. Donovan better make that decision quick, though. You don’t want to surrender too many losses to this team early.
My personal hunch though is that a small line-up would be most effective even though most analysts would disagree with the idea of playing Golden State’s game in order to beat them. Cleveland tried to go big against them last year in the finals. When it looked like size was Golden State’s weakness, it actually couldn’t last a series. Oklahoma City’s frontcourt certainly isn’t better defensively than Cleveland’s last year (they have Kanter for Christ’s sake), and I also feel like going straight iso against this team in the halfcourt won’t work on Golden State like it did in San Antonio because of the danger you put yourself with their fast break points . Ibaka at least can run and block with the best of them one-on-one with Green at center as Durant still maintains the same match-up advantage he’d have regardless of any line-up changes between both teams.
So, essentially, this series is going to come down to two major things for me: the offensive efficiency of Westbrook, and the frontcourt “solution” of Oklahoma City.. most notably who is winning the rebound battle. Either team can definitely win this series. I’d say this is certainly more 50/50 than past conference finals. To confidently say either team could easily win this would be dishonest, so I’m really taking a couple of shots in the dark for this one.
Overall, I’d have to favor Golden State. Again, this is a shot in the dark, but I feel like Kanter will be unable to keep up with Golden State’s big men defensively. If he’s made irrelevant, that makes your rebounding strength less pronounced… and now you’re just hoping for Westbrook, Durant, and Ibaka to fill in the games possibly through small line-ups in which case, they have a strong chance to win still, but the versatility of Golden State’s frontcourt is a hard intangible to go against.
Golden State wins if: Their small line-up of Green at center simply can’t be solved, Westbrook is super wasteful of possessions again, Kanter can’t play on the floor at all, Ibaka is more useless than Green.
Oklahoma City wins if: They get all the boards, Ibaka is the anti-Green player we’ve always been looking for, Westbrook is crae.
Golden State in seven.
“I’ve gotten really good at ignoring people.” – Stephen Curry
“He’s a shooter… nothing I haven’t seen.” – Russell Westbrook
So, it turns out that Oklahoma City’s regular season weaknesses were rather lessons to help them grow over the past couple of weeks. What we all thought was originally going to be the clash of the Kings between Golden State and San Antonio (the best offensive efficient and defensive efficient, respectively) will instead be the clash of pace, space, and grace versus athleticism, physicality, and stardom.
I am very, very impressed with the way both teams got here. Golden State had their MVP injured and almost didn’t miss a beat in two different series. Some would argue that if Curry were still injured, we’d be talking about Portland instead; however, that doesn’t change the fact that this team is still top tier if their MVP isn’t having his A-game. The offensive creativity of Kerr as a second-year coach is simply unbelievable. I also feel like Thompson is growing into his own stardom as well.
Oklahoma City came back to show San Antonio that its #1 ranked defense in over ten years was not enough to stop it. After getting blown out by the biggest margin in the entire playoffs up to that point, Oklahoma City showed a serious amount perseverance and physicality I’ve never seen from their frontcourt ever.
How am I going to approach this match-up? Well, I think the biggest thing to note first is their contrast in style through their point guards. Curry is the graceful wizard who has the intelligence and shooting form rivaled by no one else. Westbrook is a physical specimen who can rebound as well as a big guy, run as fast as LeBron, and outmuscle anyone who’s anywhere near the same size as him.
Which style is better face-to-face? One thing I didn’t overlook from the second round was Westbrook’s continued mistakes, wasted possessions, and turnovers. Golden State is the #1 team in fastbreak scoring. All they need to do is reach a three point line that stretches around the actual goal by 25-30 feet as Green is likely outpacing your big man. That is a position nobody in the NBA wants to ever put themselves in, and with the way Westbrook plays, he has to be very, very careful… more careful than he ever has been in a series. Long rebounds, live-ball turnovers, and wasted offensive possessions will quickly spell death for Oklahoma City against a team as offensively graceful as Golden State.
Now, Curry and Westbrook may not even guard each other that much in this series. In fact, they may crossplay. Regular season meeting statistics show that Curry had an easier time, though. Golden State has multiple decent guys they can throw at Westbrook who have above-average defensive reputations. Livingston, Thompson, maybe even Barnes. Oklahoma City only really has Roberson and Waiters. These guys did a fantastic job on Leonard in the second-round, but Curry is a whole new level offensively from him. Kerry is probably too smart to have Curry guarding Westbrook for long stretches, so Westbrook is going to be the guard who has more to deal with. Everyone on Golden State’s perimeter is an offensive threat in some way. Westbrook has to be incredibly focused not to get constant fouls and to have guys like Thompson and Barnes getting hot. Meanwhile, Curry gets to relax. There are other ballhandlers for Golden State. Waiters and Roberson have to have a good series offensively to keep Curry honest.
Frontcourt wise, it’s a mystery as far as I’m concerned. Oklahoma City’s big line-up worked magic against San Antonio. They outrebounded them by huge numbers and stifled their frontcourt’s offense. Green is the engine who makes Golden State go, and if Adams and Kanter can kill Golden State on the glass, it’ll be that much harder for Golden State to get many points against a set Oklahoma City defense. At the same time, Kanter is really going to be tested on pick and roll defense this series. He is still absolutely shit at it, and Green is one of the most dangerous roll men in the league. I’m not sure what would be more effective for Oklahoma City as far as size goes… I like the sound of an Ibaka/Durant frontcourt running amuck as much as an Adams/Kanter frontcourt killing them on the glass. Donovan better make that decision quick, though. You don’t want to surrender too many losses to this team early.
My personal hunch though is that a small line-up would be most effective even though most analysts would disagree with the idea of playing Golden State’s game in order to beat them. Cleveland tried to go big against them last year in the finals. When it looked like size was Golden State’s weakness, it actually couldn’t last a series. Oklahoma City’s frontcourt certainly isn’t better defensively than Cleveland’s last year (they have Kanter for Christ’s sake), and I also feel like going straight iso against this team in the halfcourt won’t work on Golden State like it did in San Antonio because of the danger you put yourself with their fast break points . Ibaka at least can run and block with the best of them one-on-one with Green at center as Durant still maintains the same match-up advantage he’d have regardless of any line-up changes between both teams.
So, essentially, this series is going to come down to two major things for me: the offensive efficiency of Westbrook, and the frontcourt “solution” of Oklahoma City.. most notably who is winning the rebound battle. Either team can definitely win this series. I’d say this is certainly more 50/50 than past conference finals. To confidently say either team could easily win this would be dishonest, so I’m really taking a couple of shots in the dark for this one.
Overall, I’d have to favor Golden State. Again, this is a shot in the dark, but I feel like Kanter will be unable to keep up with Golden State’s big men defensively. If he’s made irrelevant, that makes your rebounding strength less pronounced… and now you’re just hoping for Westbrook, Durant, and Ibaka to fill in the games possibly through small line-ups in which case, they have a strong chance to win still, but the versatility of Golden State’s frontcourt is a hard intangible to go against.
Golden State wins if: Their small line-up of Green at center simply can’t be solved, Westbrook is super wasteful of possessions again, Kanter can’t play on the floor at all, Ibaka is more useless than Green.
Oklahoma City wins if: They get all the boards, Ibaka is the anti-Green player we’ve always been looking for, Westbrook is crae.
Golden State in seven.
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GSW in 5/6 - really undecided, CLE in 5
oh my goodness
edit: wow; okc put up a great performance; but toward the end, GSW got stops but just didn't convert on the offensive ends.
edit: wow; okc put up a great performance; but toward the end, GSW got stops but just didn't convert on the offensive ends.
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Curry is insane.
Yet the Warriors still find a way to lose lmao.
Yet the Warriors still find a way to lose lmao.
whether it's this series or the next, the curse will get to him.
Dubs are already playing an almost win or go home game tomorrow night. Going to OKC at 0-2 would be very difficult to overcome, even for a team that had a 73 wins regular season.
Thunder looks like last year's Cavs during the Finals, big D, great hustle, and an unacademic offense thats still works thanks to not one but two monsters (LeBron is still better than both Westbrook and Durant, but having two machines like that, come on...).
I hope Steve Kerr will find a solution within the next 48 hours or even less.
Thunder looks like last year's Cavs during the Finals, big D, great hustle, and an unacademic offense thats still works thanks to not one but two monsters (LeBron is still better than both Westbrook and Durant, but having two machines like that, come on...).
I hope Steve Kerr will find a solution within the next 48 hours or even less.
“LeBron’s probably one of the best players in the league — besides Steph.” – Kyle Lowry
"Man, meeting Michael Jordan for me was like...black Jesus walking towards me.” – LeBron James
Toronto seems to be the only team out of the four remaining that doesn’t seem to belong here.
But they’re here, and we have to talk about them. Don’t expect me to entertain them into the finals, however. They are over-matched right now.
Cleveland has peaked ala 2009. In fact, this team is even better than that team. They play a low-possession, slow paced game but their three-point shooting percentages are off the charts. I don’t think Toronto is exactly that brick wall that’s going to put a dent into that. With Toronto being 29th in the league in defending threes, this series won’t last too long if they aren’t disciplined enough.
Toronto’s one and only shining hope rests with Lowry. Even in the match-up of the point guards, Irving is going to have an easier time in this series. He may not score as well considering Lowry is one of the most physical guards in the league, but Toronto’s defense is less keyed in on Irving than Cleveland’s defense will be on Lowry. It helps not to be a huge burden for your team’s offense night after night, and coming back from two Game 7’s ought to be exhausting. Irving has to be feeling really good regardless of any defense he plays in this series.
Toronto’s frontcourt without Valanciunas is also an issue. Biyombo is nice but you can’t expect him to be the LeBron brick wall we’ve all been looking for over a series. Cleveland has so many tools to throw at him… Love, Frye, Mozgov, Thompson, and maybe even LeBron himself. It will be overwhelming defensively for him, and I honestly feel like Toronto might want to be daring this series and go small. They may get beat on the boards but looking at their pace stats (they play even slower than Cleveland at times) and their reliance on points off turnovers, they have to increase their point production some way since Cleveland in all likelihood will be more efficient heading into this series. They need to try a helter skelter defensive strategy that increases the pace and takes Cleveland out of its comfort zone.
If Toronto really wants to win this, they need Lowry and DeRozan to play at a level far above what they have been in the past two series. Ellis and George is one thing, Wade and Dragic is another… and now, LeBron and Kyrie is yet another jump as far as backcourt pairings go.
Toronto’s bench could be a huge X-Factor to any potential Lowry/DeRozan craziness, but Cleveland’s perimeter defenders are probably the best group of perimeter defenders on this side of the country. Should prepare them for what they’re potentially about to face in the finals…
Cleveland wins if: LeBron is LeBron, Lowry and DeRozan are too beat to carry consistent performances once again, Toronto’s three-point defense is as ass as the rest.
Toronto wins if: Lowry and DeRozan go insane, Biyombo is defensive secretly defensive player of the year, Irving’s ankles need surgery after what’s happened.
Cleveland in five.
"Man, meeting Michael Jordan for me was like...black Jesus walking towards me.” – LeBron James
Toronto seems to be the only team out of the four remaining that doesn’t seem to belong here.
But they’re here, and we have to talk about them. Don’t expect me to entertain them into the finals, however. They are over-matched right now.
Cleveland has peaked ala 2009. In fact, this team is even better than that team. They play a low-possession, slow paced game but their three-point shooting percentages are off the charts. I don’t think Toronto is exactly that brick wall that’s going to put a dent into that. With Toronto being 29th in the league in defending threes, this series won’t last too long if they aren’t disciplined enough.
Toronto’s one and only shining hope rests with Lowry. Even in the match-up of the point guards, Irving is going to have an easier time in this series. He may not score as well considering Lowry is one of the most physical guards in the league, but Toronto’s defense is less keyed in on Irving than Cleveland’s defense will be on Lowry. It helps not to be a huge burden for your team’s offense night after night, and coming back from two Game 7’s ought to be exhausting. Irving has to be feeling really good regardless of any defense he plays in this series.
Toronto’s frontcourt without Valanciunas is also an issue. Biyombo is nice but you can’t expect him to be the LeBron brick wall we’ve all been looking for over a series. Cleveland has so many tools to throw at him… Love, Frye, Mozgov, Thompson, and maybe even LeBron himself. It will be overwhelming defensively for him, and I honestly feel like Toronto might want to be daring this series and go small. They may get beat on the boards but looking at their pace stats (they play even slower than Cleveland at times) and their reliance on points off turnovers, they have to increase their point production some way since Cleveland in all likelihood will be more efficient heading into this series. They need to try a helter skelter defensive strategy that increases the pace and takes Cleveland out of its comfort zone.
If Toronto really wants to win this, they need Lowry and DeRozan to play at a level far above what they have been in the past two series. Ellis and George is one thing, Wade and Dragic is another… and now, LeBron and Kyrie is yet another jump as far as backcourt pairings go.
Toronto’s bench could be a huge X-Factor to any potential Lowry/DeRozan craziness, but Cleveland’s perimeter defenders are probably the best group of perimeter defenders on this side of the country. Should prepare them for what they’re potentially about to face in the finals…
Cleveland wins if: LeBron is LeBron, Lowry and DeRozan are too beat to carry consistent performances once again, Toronto’s three-point defense is as ass as the rest.
Toronto wins if: Lowry and DeRozan go insane, Biyombo is defensive secretly defensive player of the year, Irving’s ankles need surgery after what’s happened.
Cleveland in five.
Keeping that #2 pick
I know it's early but OKC's transition defense is... awesome. I didn't notice it in the Spurs series but it's really, really impressive how they make a ton of liveball turnovers against GS and they fail to score almost every time.
OKC.. just might be the team to do this thing.
OKC.. just might be the team to do this thing.
Curry is just ridiculous
Last night I go from raving about how good this close battle is between okc and the warriors to watching the end of the 3rd quarter wondering what the hell did I just watch..I'm sure I witnessed murder with no one helping the thunder or at least calling the police.
I'm a longtime Heat fan and as most know we limped ourselves to just a game away from the Eastern Conference Finals but the raptors were just too much. So now I can just sit back and enjoy watching the last teams standing, basketball fans need this cavs vs warriors rematch, everyone better be healthy.
I'm a longtime Heat fan and as most know we limped ourselves to just a game away from the Eastern Conference Finals but the raptors were just too much. So now I can just sit back and enjoy watching the last teams standing, basketball fans need this cavs vs warriors rematch, everyone better be healthy.
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