*** OFFICIAL *** 2017-18 NBA Thread

[BCR]

A fun thought experiment that only works in the NBA. There are 8 teams currently winning more than 60% of their games, call them the contenders (GS, Hou, Min, SA, OKC, Cle, Bos, Tor). Build an all-star roster of anyone from the remaining 22 teams, does that team win the title? Hypothetically, that roster could look like:

Guards: Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Victor Oladipo, Devin Booker

Wings/Bigs: Ben Simmons, Greek Freek, Kristaps, Marc Gasol, Joel Embiid, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic


Now obviously that team has insane depth, but in a playoff series with GS's main guys playing 40 minutes, who wins? I think it is actually possible Golden State wins, or at the very least it is a moderately close series.

I suppose this experiment could work in baseball also, assuming the top team, say Houston right now, has 3 starters all on the top of their game (kuechel, verlander, cole) they can win a 7 game series vs an all-star team of the bottom 22 teams. part of that though is the randomness of baseball, and 7 games still being a small sample size.

Wouldnt work at all in the NFL or NHL, the 2 leagues with an actual hard cap.

Even given time to gel, I still think Golden State would win. The guards aren’t good enough, particularly as defenders. A few of those bigs are good defenders or good scorers, but like a Greek Freak, as good as he is, can’t shoot 3s. Simmons can’t shoot. Davis can’t really shoot from 3 at any volume. They’d own the boards, but the guards aren’t nearly good enough and the bigs have holes in their game. It’s possible they’d be able to go 90s style and just beat them up inside, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

[gut]

A fun thought experiment that only works in the NBA. There are 8 teams currently winning more than 60% of their games, call them the contenders (GS, Hou, Min, SA, OKC, Cle, Bos, Tor). Build an all-star roster of anyone from the remaining 22 teams, does that team win the title? Hypothetically, that roster could look like:

Guards: Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Victor Oladipo, Devin Booker

Wings/Bigs: Ben Simmons, Greek Freek, Kristaps, Marc Gasol, Joel Embiid, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic


Now obviously that team has insane depth, but in a playoff series with GS's main guys playing 40 minutes, who wins? I think it is actually possible Golden State wins, or at the very least it is a moderately close series.

I suppose this experiment could work in baseball also, assuming the top team, say Houston right now, has 3 starters all on the top of their game (kuechel, verlander, cole) they can win a 7 game series vs an all-star team of the bottom 22 teams. part of that though is the randomness of baseball, and 7 games still being a small sample size.

Wouldnt work at all in the NFL or NHL, the 2 leagues with an actual hard cap.

still take the pieced together team...I move simmons to the backcourt and I can have some combo of greek freak, kristaps, embiid, brow Ill take my chances against GS...question would be, can that massive lineup stay with GS...would be interesting to watch...guess they would have to press on the outside to funnel them to the interior presence???

Yeah, my preference would be a starting 5 of Lillard, Beal, Simmons, Giannis, Brow. Trying to defend that would be a nightmare.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

jesus, good luck with that one...again I don't know if there's any track record of a guy coming back from that kinda injury and being the same player...whatever team wants to pay him 30/year is gonna be eating shit on that one...

There have actually been a couple good pieces about this in the wake of Cousins's injury. Here's a decent one: https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/1/...s-is-the-worst

It's quite a small sample size and the two big superstars it happened to (Bryant and Wilkins) were already well past their prime, so they likely wouldn't have been able to keep up a high level of play much longer anyway.

I've never been a huge Cousins fan just because he's kind of a bonehead, but there's no doubt the dude is insanely talented, so it's a bummer that his career is probably (effectively) dead.

agreed...woulda been interesting if he ever played for a team where they had guys who told him to cut his fucking shit out...thinking like the old Celtics teams that had pierce/KG/allen who wouldn't have taken his shit...

just looked, wes Matthews went from around a 25 PER guy to now a 20-21 guy...cant imagine that injury gets much easier to deal with when you are a 7 foot monster...

[KidPresentable]

Of course I say that, but I put up with Draymond Green...

I wish he would cool it on the bitching at referees thing, but otherwise his intensity is kind of necessary on these recent Warriors teams since their other stars and leaders are just kind of laid back dudes. Klay Thompson is probably stoned 90% of the time.

[ErickAA]

I probably have a higher opinion of Harris than you do. I doubt the average 15th pick in the draft (or wherever the draft pick is going to land up) will on average be a better asset than Harris.

nothing wrong with harris, but when you trade a stud you're doing it to get the pick asset rather than an average/slightly above average player...if harris is on a long term 15M/year type deal id rather have the 15th pick on a cheap deal and hope he turns into something...

Fair enough.

[Dan Druff]

A fun thought experiment that only works in the NBA. There are 8 teams currently winning more than 60% of their games, call them the contenders (GS, Hou, Min, SA, OKC, Cle, Bos, Tor). Build an all-star roster of anyone from the remaining 22 teams, does that team win the title? Hypothetically, that roster could look like:

Guards: Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Victor Oladipo, Devin Booker

Wings/Bigs: Ben Simmons, Greek Freek, Kristaps, Marc Gasol, Joel Embiid, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic


Now obviously that team has insane depth, but in a playoff series with GS's main guys playing 40 minutes, who wins? I think it is actually possible Golden State wins, or at the very least it is a moderately close series.

I suppose this experiment could work in baseball also, assuming the top team, say Houston right now, has 3 starters all on the top of their game (kuechel, verlander, cole) they can win a 7 game series vs an all-star team of the bottom 22 teams. part of that though is the randomness of baseball, and 7 games still being a small sample size.

Wouldnt work at all in the NFL or NHL, the 2 leagues with an actual hard cap.

I would still go with the "field" team because they would dominate hard when GS has their reserves on the floor.

GS winning with the starting 5, but that probably wouldn't quite be enough.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

nothing wrong with harris, but when you trade a stud you're doing it to get the pick asset rather than an average/slightly above average player...if harris is on a long term 15M/year type deal id rather have the 15th pick on a cheap deal and hope he turns into something...

Fair enough.

if KP is right that this is a jerry west deal, then I retract my concerns...guy knows how to manage shit...its like danny ainge and the draft...at this point if he wants to take a DIII guy in the first round id back him because he continues to nail the draft...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

love broken hand out 6-8 weeks...jesus...poor poor poor lebum...

[gut]

A fun thought experiment that only works in the NBA. There are 8 teams currently winning more than 60% of their games, call them the contenders (GS, Hou, Min, SA, OKC, Cle, Bos, Tor). Build an all-star roster of anyone from the remaining 22 teams, does that team win the title? Hypothetically, that roster could look like:

Guards: Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Victor Oladipo, Devin Booker

Wings/Bigs: Ben Simmons, Greek Freek, Kristaps, Marc Gasol, Joel Embiid, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic


Now obviously that team has insane depth, but in a playoff series with GS's main guys playing 40 minutes, who wins? I think it is actually possible Golden State wins, or at the very least it is a moderately close series.

I suppose this experiment could work in baseball also, assuming the top team, say Houston right now, has 3 starters all on the top of their game (kuechel, verlander, cole) they can win a 7 game series vs an all-star team of the bottom 22 teams. part of that though is the randomness of baseball, and 7 games still being a small sample size.

Wouldnt work at all in the NFL or NHL, the 2 leagues with an actual hard cap.

I would still go with the "field" team because they would dominate hard when GS has their reserves on the floor.

GS winning with the starting 5, but that probably wouldn't quite be enough.

yeah, thats why I lean towards the "field"...but in a 7 game series at the end....you figure the GS big 4 each playing 40 mins (while staggering the subs) to win this hypothetical game....that only leaves 80 other minutes to fill.....Igoudala plays 30, Zaza 20, West 15, Swaggy P 10, anyone else 5. Assuming they don't get gassed by game 3 GS shouldn't have too many -ev lineups out there.

[Dan Druff]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...geles-clippers

Blake Griffin found out about his trade on Twitter.



What a crap organization.

[ErickAA]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...geles-clippers

Blake Griffin found out about his trade on Twitter.



What a crap organization.

Meh. Reporters are wired in and can report the trade the second it happens on social media. It was probably reported on twitter before anyone in the organization even had a chance to call Blake (or anyone else). For good or bad it seems to be the norm now where athletes find out about this kind of stuff on social media. I don't think it reflects a crap organization per se.

In case the trade falls through you probably want to keep these negotiations as secret as you can, so if one does happen and it is reported on social media right away not a lot the organization can do.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

this would be so awesome as it would be the first time a professional sports league would be temporarily destroyed...would be interesting to see what happened with NBA revenues/ratings/etc...

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...y-lebron-james

[Sanlmar]

It’s been talked about forever. The inevitable plastering of advertising on sports jerseys.

The Celtics now sport GE on their uniform. The 3 year deal was sold cheap @ $5mill.

GE recently moved their headquarters to Boston. However, GE is puking on its shoes and is at risk for becoming delisted from the DOW.

The Celtics should have waited for Amazon. Boston based DraftKings would have been the epic choice.

The awful Lakers would probably entertain any PFA proposal.

[ErickAA]

this would be so awesome as it would be the first time a professional sports league would be temporarily destroyed...would be interesting to see what happened with NBA revenues/ratings/etc...

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...y-lebron-james

That article is complete garbage and the fact it is on the front page of ESPN website tells you all you need to know about how far ESPN has fallen as a legitimate sports news and entertainment company. There isn't a single source named or even indicated in that entire article. It could be (and probably is) nothing but fan fiction from the author of it.

At this point it seems there is very little difference between ESPN and TMZ sports as far as the quality of the content. It really is that poor.

[ErickAA]

Also, none of you guys may have even heard about this because it was a low end player on a shitty team on a late night non competitive game, but Isaiah Canaan broke his ankle pretty bad last night landing awkwardly. So if you are into that kind of stuff, you could probably find footage on the inter webs.

[KidPresentable]

Total shitpost, but I thought it was funny: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comment...ming_the_cavs/

[simpdog]

Lebron to Golden State?

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...bron-james-nba

I don't believe he would go to Golden State. Regardless of the 'guaranteed' championships I don't think he would entertain this.

[BCR]

this would be so awesome as it would be the first time a professional sports league would be temporarily destroyed...would be interesting to see what happened with NBA revenues/ratings/etc...

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...y-lebron-james

Idiotic story. I have little doubt he’s leaving, but this is typical Lebron spin machine tripe. He’s trying to set up a narrative where signing with Houston will seem brave compared to Durant’s cowardice.

[Dan Druff]

How dumb was OKC to trade Harden?

Even at the time, it was clear he was destined for stardom.

What a bedshit that was.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

How dumb was OKC to trade Harden?

Even at the time, it was clear he was destined for stardom.

What a bedshit that was.

I THINK (and gut or anybody else who remembers that far back can correct me) they had to jettison one of their big 3 at the time because they wouldn't have been able to fit them under the cap...don't think it was known at that time that the cap was going to balloon to some obscene number where they coulda legitimately kept all 3 guys...

so then it would become a question between harden/westbrook...you could go either way on that one, id probably lean towards getting rid of russ...but at that point I don't think anybody expected harden to become THIS good...