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

[ErickAA]

We are getting to the point where philly may not be willing to deal simmons for lebron though. Lbj for all his greatness is pushing 34 while ben is only 20 and is already a jumpshot away from being a legit superstar. If philly thinks he can turn into any kind of threat from behind the arc then im guessing we are looking at one of the first scenarios where a player is completely unavailable, even when lebron is in the mix.

Im not convinced he will ever shoot around league avg or better from deep though since at this point he doesnt even try. Every 3pt attempt he has this season is from beyond half court in a buzzer beater scenario. Even though his vision, passing, and finishing around the rim are already elite, he becomes much less useful in PNRs and is a whole lot easier to gameplan for on defense if you know he is rarely if ever going to pull up.

Yeah, I know Lebron put Philly on his list but I just don't see how him and Simmons play well together. Simmons is useless standing around the 3 point line without the ball, so when Lebron has the ball the choice is either for him to be useless or hang around the basket and clog it up which Lebron doesn't like.

[blake]

We are getting to the point where philly may not be willing to deal simmons for lebron though. Lbj for all his greatness is pushing 34 while ben is only 20 and is already a jumpshot away from being a legit superstar. If philly thinks he can turn into any kind of threat from behind the arc then im guessing we are looking at one of the first scenarios where a player is completely unavailable, even when lebron is in the mix.

Im not convinced he will ever shoot around league avg or better from deep though since at this point he doesnt even try. Every 3pt attempt he has this season is from beyond half court in a buzzer beater scenario. Even though his vision, passing, and finishing around the rim are already elite, he becomes much less useful in PNRs and is a whole lot easier to gameplan for on defense if you know he is rarely if ever going to pull up.

the sixers wouldn't trade simmons for lebron if you threw in 59 of cleveland's next 1st round picks.

[blake]

saric and george can shoot, but i admit i'm not sure that simmons and lebron would work well together

At this point in his career Lebron functions the best when he is the ball handler and there is 3 guys standing around the 3 point line for him to pass to. Yeah, I don't see any way to make it work with Simmons. He is making way too much money and would have to sign a smaller contract, but Reddick would probably be fine. A Lebron, George, Saric, Embiid, Reddick lineup sounds interesting, with Fultz getting into mix when he gets over whatever is going on. I don't even know if it is possibly to do a sign and trade for Simmons and picks, but sounds like something that could work if it was all orchestrated ahead of time.

Edit: I dunno how that works defensively though. I dunno if Reddick can defend PGs effectively, which is what he would be asked to do in the fantasy scenario I made up.

the sixers have enough cap space that they can sign lebron to a max deal without making one move

[varys]

At this point in his career Lebron functions the best when he is the ball handler and there is 3 guys standing around the 3 point line for him to pass to. Yeah, I don't see any way to make it work with Simmons. He is making way too much money and would have to sign a smaller contract, but Reddick would probably be fine. A Lebron, George, Saric, Embiid, Reddick lineup sounds interesting, with Fultz getting into mix when he gets over whatever is going on. I don't even know if it is possibly to do a sign and trade for Simmons and picks, but sounds like something that could work if it was all orchestrated ahead of time.

Edit: I dunno how that works defensively though. I dunno if Reddick can defend PGs effectively, which is what he would be asked to do in the fantasy scenario I made up.

the sixers have enough cap space that they can sign lebron to a max deal without making one move

Ok but thats not his point. The amount of talent wasted when those two would share the floor is the issue. Lil bro cant shoot the damn ball.

Unless you can convince a potential superstar to just run the bench units (lol) then this marriage aint workin.

[blake]

the sixers have enough cap space that they can sign lebron to a max deal without making one move

Ok but thats not his point. The amount of talent wasted when those two would share the floor is the issue. Lil bro cant shoot the damn ball.

Unless you can convince a potential superstar to just run the bench units (lol) then this marriage aint workin.

yeah i was just addressing the part of verm's post about the contract situation. the sixers are one of the favorites to land lebron cause they're one of the few teams that can do it without making any moves.

that being said, i agree that a simmons-lebron pairing would have issues since simmons needs the ball in his hands to be effective, which is also lebron's strength as well

even with those issues, though, the sixers would coast through the east if lebron went there. maybe that's enough? simmons is still super young and can develop a jump shot, plus fultz's potential...

i'm not even sure what the other good options are for lebron. i guess LA. maybe stay in cleveland? houston but the money issue is tough to get around

[blake]

hmmm, just looking at various lineup possibilities if lebron came and stumbled upon a note about embiid's contract.

apparently if he makes an all-nba 1st team or wins mvp his max rookie deal ($148 million) converts to a super max ($176 million)

uh oh..... please someone tell me there's another center that will get this. cousins getting hurt fucked the sixers over

[BCR]

I don’t even know who his competition is? Jokic? Horford? Seems like he’d almost have to be 1st team all NBA assuming he finishes the season healthy. He’s the best two way center by a good bit. Jokic’s defense just isn’t there.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

hmmm, just looking at various lineup possibilities if lebron came and stumbled upon a note about embiid's contract.

apparently if he makes an all-nba 1st team or wins mvp his max rookie deal ($148 million) converts to a super max ($176 million)

uh oh..... please someone tell me there's another center that will get this. cousins getting hurt fucked the sixers over

not unless you want to reclass brow as a center...or you can give it to Dwight because he had the quietest 30-30 in NBA history last night and he deserves some sorta reward...

EDIT: KAT probably classifies as a C...so that's where you're probably gonna lay your hopes...agree with BCR on jokic, plus they're not making the playoffs...at least with KAT you can argue he's dragging that team to 45-47 wins without butler for 1/3 of that...

[blake]

did a little more digging, i think KAT and AD would qualify as centers even if they play power forward half the time

if that’s the case, AD seems like a lock for this. 4th place in the west and averages about 5 more points a game than embiid. the only thing that can totally fuck this up is an AD injury which is sadly very possible with him

[BCR]

KAT is an inferior player to Embiid. One way guy. If they classify AD as center, yeah he’s a lock. And they’ll probably do that despite him playing minuscule minutes at center for 75% of the season. The NBA is famous for that, and Embiid isn’t quite 1st team all-NBA level quite yet. If he stays healthy he’ll be first team for next decade.

[ErickAA]

What they need to do is get rid of the position designation for these awards. Either get rid of it altogether and pick the best 5 players to be first team, or do it like in the ASG and go front court and backcourt players. Except in todays NBA, I would go 2 front court and 3 backcourt. But yeah, if you want to go strict "centers" Embiid is probably 1st team NBA right now.

[varys]

AD surely grabs 1st team over embiid. The work hes been doing since cousins went out has been insane. Nobody not named lebron has dragged a crew of scrubs to big wins like hes been doing. He should finish top 5 in the MVP voting and really you could make a case that by definition he should maybe win the damn thing.

Digging around at his stats since cousins went down im seeing averages of 36 pts 13 rbs and 2.5 blocks and steals for february. Add to that five games scoring 40 or more. Thats uhh pretty fuckin valuable.

[ErickAA]

AD surely grabs 1st team over embiid. The work hes been doing since cousins went out has been insane. Nobody not named lebron has dragged a crew of scrubs to big wins like hes been doing. He should finish top 5 in the MVP voting and really you could make a case that by definition he should maybe win the damn thing.

Digging around at his stats since cousins went down im seeing averages of 36 pts 13 rbs and 2.5 blocks and steals for february. Add to that five games scoring 40 or more. Thats uhh pretty fuckin valuable.

Yeah, the issue is whether he is a considered a center or not. Pretty much every game this year he has started the game listed as a PF with first Cousins and then Okafor or Diallo as center.

[varys]

AD surely grabs 1st team over embiid. The work hes been doing since cousins went out has been insane. Nobody not named lebron has dragged a crew of scrubs to big wins like hes been doing. He should finish top 5 in the MVP voting and really you could make a case that by definition he should maybe win the damn thing.

Digging around at his stats since cousins went down im seeing averages of 36 pts 13 rbs and 2.5 blocks and steals for february. Add to that five games scoring 40 or more. Thats uhh pretty fuckin valuable.

Yeah, the issue is whether he is a considered a center or not. Pretty much every game this year he has started the game listed as a PF with first Cousins and then Okafor or Diallo as center.

Seems like theyll slot him in at the 5. Thats where he made all-nba last season.

[varys]

Front court should be lebron/durant/AD. Any other way would be a complete joke imo.

[blake]

Front court should be lebron/durant/AD. Any other way would be a complete joke imo.

with harden and westbrook at guards i’m sure

[varys]

Front court should be lebron/durant/AD. Any other way would be a complete joke imo.

with harden and westbrook at guards i’m sure

Im sure this is unpopular but im not real high on westbrook. At all really.

I have curry and dame a notch above kyrie cp3 and westbrook. 2013-2016 cp3 to me was a cut above RWB. I just need my guards to be able to kill you from deep and AFAIK russ has never cracked 30% from the arc. He also isnt likely to age well since his game is built on that raw athleticism. I dont think he’ll fade like d rose but that is the closest comparison i can think of.

That said kyries D is godawful which keeps him out of my “best player on a champion” group and russ is absolutely awesome to watch when hes hot and out to destroy dudes.

[Sloppy Joe]

with harden and westbrook at guards i’m sure

Im sure this is unpopular but im not real high on westbrook. At all really.

I have curry and dame a notch above kyrie cp3 and westbrook. 2013-2016 cp3 to me was a cut above RWB. I just need my guards to be able to kill you from deep and AFAIK russ has never cracked 30% from the arc. He also isnt likely to age well since his game is built on that raw athleticism. I dont think he’ll fade like d rose but that is the closest comparison i can think of.

That said kyries D is godawful which keeps him out of my “best player on a champion” group and russ is absolutely awesome to watch when hes hot and out to destroy dudes.

LOL Westbrook 1st team. Oladipo, Derozan, Curry, Dame all higher.

I’m a Blazers season ticket holder and love Dame, but health concerns aside, think Kyrie is slightly more valuable. Lillard has been lethal this year though.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

Im sure this is unpopular but im not real high on westbrook. At all really.

I have curry and dame a notch above kyrie cp3 and westbrook. 2013-2016 cp3 to me was a cut above RWB. I just need my guards to be able to kill you from deep and AFAIK russ has never cracked 30% from the arc. He also isnt likely to age well since his game is built on that raw athleticism. I dont think he’ll fade like d rose but that is the closest comparison i can think of.

That said kyries D is godawful which keeps him out of my “best player on a champion” group and russ is absolutely awesome to watch when hes hot and out to destroy dudes.

LOL Westbrook 1st team. Oladipo, Derozan, Curry, Dame all higher.

I’m a Blazers season ticket holder and love Dame, but health concerns aside, think Kyrie is slightly more valuable. Lillard has been lethal this year though.

anybody know kyries defensive metrics this year? remember reading around 10-15 games in he was rating out as an average defender which was a huge step forward from him being one of the worst in the league...curious if he kept that up for the full year...if he did then fucking stevens is more of a god than I'm giving him credit for right now...

[varys]

LOL Westbrook 1st team. Oladipo, Derozan, Curry, Dame all higher.

I’m a Blazers season ticket holder and love Dame, but health concerns aside, think Kyrie is slightly more valuable. Lillard has been lethal this year though.

anybody know kyries defensive metrics this year? remember reading around 10-15 games in he was rating out as an average defender which was a huge step forward from him being one of the worst in the league...curious if he kept that up for the full year...if he did then fucking stevens is more of a god than I'm giving him credit for right now...

Yeah i think youd have to be an amputee to not rate around average with stevens calling shots. See crowder IT and kyrie as evidence.