2018-2019 NBA Season Thread

[rudel.dietrich]

At no time do I ever feel like the Warriors are in trouble. The Rockets had the game of the playoffs from Eric Gordon. Meanwhile Golden State has off nights from Curry and Klay.
You need 4 off nights from them in a 7 game series to bear them all the while needing a career playoff game from one of your non Harden players.


And KD is showing he is the best player in basketball these playoffs.
Through 9 playoff games he is shooting 52/44/92 while scoring 36 a game and 5 rebounds and 5 assists and 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks.

He is playing out of his mind and is the best basketball player in the world right now.

[Cobra Mgr]

Steph was horrible last night. I'm going to blame it on the hand.

[Cobra Mgr]

So when Paul Pierce said the series was over, he was thinking 1st to 4 L's wins?

[Cobra Mgr]

I was going to stay up & watch the GS/Hou game tonight. But all this flopping got me thinking I'm either watching dook vs dook, or a World Cup soccer match.

[thehef]

Kyrie is getting destroyed on social media, and in the Boston media. Very deservedly so, IMO. Difficult to imagine a scenario where he returns to Boston, given that 1) both his on and off the court actions indicate he doesn't want to be there, 2) the bulk of Boston media and fans pretty much despise him, and 3) Danny Ainge is pretty smart - he's got to recognize "Kyrie as my leader" did not and will not work.

Then, with the Warriors, who had been inconsistent but still winning, and with some cracks in their cohesiveness, we have the Durant injury, which will likely pull the rest of the guys - Steph, Klay, Draymond, Andre, Livingston - together to essentially say, "We won our first title without Durant, so let's prove we can still win without him." OTOH, the Rockets couldn't overcome Paul's injury last year to topple the Warriors; assuming Durant either misses a game seven or is well-below 100% for it, the Rockets HAVE to win this year's matchup.

Denver is just fun to watch...

Toronto should get by Philly, setting up what should be a largely-ignored (by media market standards) but very entertaining Bucks-Raptors EC Finals series...

[Cobra Mgr]

Kyrie is his own worst enemy. He has Kobe Syndrome. He thinks leadership is being the game's top scorer. You can't be a team leader when all you focus on is the mirror.

I also wonder about Brad Stevens though. Some coaches don't know how to operate when they have a superior weapon. They only know how to make the sum exceed the parts. This is the 1st time in his career, college & pro, that he has had a couple of big guns in his locker room. And he couldn't make it work. Is that solely Kyrie's fault or is that really an indictment of Stevens?

[TheMaus2]

Durant confirmed out but Houston's window expanded and shrank after losing Game 5. Now they have to close out at the Oracle…

[Cobra Mgr]

Houston now HAS to win this series. Since they lost to the Dubs last year, the cry has been "If CP3 hadn't been hurt....". Now GW is w/o Durant. No excuses.

[damientheomen3]

I'm hoping Houston forces a game 7 so I can watch James Harden turn the ball over 3 times in the last 2 minutes in a game 7 for the 80th time.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I also wonder about Brad Stevens though. Some coaches don't know how to operate when they have a superior weapon. They only know how to make the sum exceed the parts. This is the 1st time in his career, college & pro, that he has had a couple of big guns in his locker room. And he couldn't make it work. Is that solely Kyrie's fault or is that really an indictment of Stevens?

Fair to ask the question. Too soon to have the answer, IMO. He's been successful at - as you say - making the sum exceed the parts. But with a "big guns" roster, to judge his work on essentially just one full season of Kyrie & Hayward, and with Kyrie being a team-ball killer, and Hayward still obviously affected by the injury... too soon to judge.

[TheMaus2]

i think there were big expectations for the c's this year and that added to the tension in the locker room. had hayward started the year coming off the bench i think they recapture their regular season form from last year

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by thehef

Fair to ask the question. Too soon to have the answer, IMO. He's been successful at - as you say - making the sum exceed the parts. But with a "big guns" roster, to judge his work on essentially just one full season of Kyrie & Hayward, and with Kyrie being a team-ball killer, and Hayward still obviously affected by the injury... too soon to judge.

I agree on all your points.

I'm also aware when things go wrong, people want to pinpoint one thing as the culprit. When most of the time, there are a number of factors at work. So I'm wary of laying the C's disappointing season squarely @ Kyrie's feet. Brad was largely teflon this year and given a pass. But I think it is part of a coach's job requirements to mesh sometimes difficult personalities & varied skills. We just assumed he would right the ship. However, the dysfunction of November was still there in May. He took responsibility for some of that postgame. He has to prove he can handle the big egos.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I agree on all your points.

I'm also aware when things go wrong, people want to pinpoint one thing as the culprit. When most of the time, there are a number of factors at work. So I'm wary of laying the C's disappointing season squarely @ Kyrie's feet. Brad was largely teflon this year and given a pass. But I think it is part of a coach's job requirements to mesh sometimes difficult personalities & varied skills. We just assumed he would right the ship. However, the dysfunction of November was still there in May. He took responsibility for some of that postgame. He has to prove he can handle the big egos.

Right/agree. If I'm making the blame pie, it'd look something like this:

50% Kyrie
25% Stevens, for not being able to "make it all work"
15% Ainge, (who I personally feel might be the best GM of modern times) for not anticipating the effect that Kyrie would have on the team*
10% the rest of the rotation players, for not being able to play up to potential, regardless of other distractions

* In hindsight, Ainge either shouldn't have made the deal, or should have put a couple of strong veteran presences on the bench to where Kyrie wouldn't have been placed in a leadership role that he was clearly either unprepared for, or unwilling to adequately fill.

So, given those (albeit, my) numbers on the pie, I know which one would be my first choice to change.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by thehef

15% Ainge, (who I personally feel might be the best GM of modern times) for not anticipating the effect that Kyrie would have on the team*


* In hindsight, Ainge either shouldn't have made the deal, or should have put a couple of strong veteran presences on the bench to where Kyrie wouldn't have been placed in a leadership role that he was clearly either unprepared for, or unwilling to adequately fill.

So, given those (albeit, my) numbers on the pie, I know which one would be my first choice to change.

I can't blame Ainge. Let's remember why he got Kyrie in the 1st place. Isaiah Thomas was coming off surgery. How has IT's career gone since then? I agree, the problem was mostly Kyrie. He said he wanted to get away from LeBron to grow as a basketball player. But he was the same player he was pre-James. He wasn't interested in increasing his leadership skills like he said. He was only interested in increasing his touches. They said he took advice from Kobe when he was in Cleveland & he has behaved just like him. I don't think Ainge is responsible for not knowing beforehand Kyrie hasn't matured as a b-ball player yet.

[rudel.dietrich]

I think the issue is that they have too many good to very good players. That seems like a good thing but in the NBA you need a set rotation where everyone more or less knows what to expect on a given night.

They probably should have dealt either Rozier or Smart.
And the big money for Heyward is not looking like it will pan out and he does not seem like he will ever be the same player he was.

And Tatum went from best player in that draft to okay starter in his second year and Jaylen Brown was wildly inconsistent.

Only Irving and Horford were good from start to finish and Irving as stated is an odd duck at best.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by thehef

Toronto should get by Philly, setting up what should be a largely-ignored (by media market standards) but very entertaining Bucks-Raptors EC Finals series...

Anyone who has a passing interest in basketball should be watching Giannis. He is a generational talent and perhaps the greatest pure athlete I have ever seen combined with almost alien like length and size.

Bill Simmons compares him to a young Shaq and that is not too bad. He is a better passer and 80 lbs lighter but a good comp.

Once he gets within 10 feet of the basket there is nothing any living player can do and he gets within 10 feet of the basket with ease.
Two strides from the 3 point line to the paint and he is then ready for a shot.

It’s almost unfair.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I can't blame Ainge. Let's remember why he got Kyrie in the 1st place. Isaiah Thomas was coming off surgery. How has IT's career gone since then? I agree, the problem was mostly Kyrie. He said he wanted to get away from LeBron to grow as a basketball player. But he was the same player he was pre-James. He wasn't interested in increasing his leadership skills like he said. He was only interested in increasing his touches. They said he took advice from Kobe when he was in Cleveland & he has behaved just like him. I don't think Ainge is responsible for not knowing beforehand Kyrie hasn't matured as a b-ball player yet.

Don't get me wrong: I'm a big Ainge fan and think he's unquestionably the best current GM, and ranks right up there with the best ever (I don't rank GM's by titles alone, because - like in the case of Jerry West, for example - they completely lack context). And the I.T. / Kyrie trade was a pretty good one. But I, for one, was not surprised by Kyrie's behavior. That he wanted to be free of LeBron and be "have his own team" should've been an indicator that it was "me first" with him. So, given that and given his age, not pairing that move with putting a strong veteran (or two) presence somewhere in the locker room falls on Ainge. (I mean, Horford is really the only true veteran, and he's not a vocal leader - which is not a criticism, just a fact.) So in hindsight, that just seems like a no-brainer. Does that mean that Ainge deserves 15% of the pie? Maybe that's high. Maybe not...

[Cobra Mgr]

@ hef......I think "hindsight" is the operative word here. Speaking for myself, 2 seasons ago I saw Kyrie as a player who was possibly maturing. As rude stated, dude is an "odd duck". But I thought he just had a different outlook on things as far as basketball is concerned. Yeah, it seems obvious now. But we forget these guys come into the NBA as teenagers. Five year vets aren't 25 yet. Some of these guys are growing up not just on the court. So I thought, and possibly Ainge thought, that was the case here. Then if that is the thought process, it would be counter productive to bring in a vocal veteran to usurp the leadership from Irving. That would stunt his growth.

I was fooled. And possibly Ainge was fooled as well. And I can't blame him for that. That's Kyrie's fault for not living up to how he presented himself.

[Cobra Mgr]

The toughness of the Dubs is greatly underrated.

[rudel.dietrich]

No games tomorrow but two game 7’s on Sunday. What the hell NBA?