2020-2021 Season Discussion

[Andrew]

And the NBA is back! Not too long of a wait this time around, obviously.

Not surprisingly, the retooling Warriors sans Thompson weren't a match for a healthy Nets team. Good to see Durant back out on the floor.

[Jeffx]

The Nets would be STUPID to trade for Harden. They have great depth...why give it up for that clown, especially with Harden's latest behavior. I'm nothing bringing that into my locker room.

[Andrew]

Fortunately, there's no deal that works under the cap unless they include Durant or Kyrie, and I don't see them doing that. And I agree, Harden's actions have gone way past petulant at this point.

[cavs4872]

I was shocked to see Nic Batum as the starting 4 for the Clippers... totally forgot about him. Fascinating stuff. And he was impactful with 6 boards and 6 assists... man is about to evolve into Boris Diaw. Despite all the roster turnover I think they have a better team this season. They can legitimately contend this year. I was one of the few people who predicted they would underwhelm last year.

And then my other prediction is that the Hawks would overachieve this year and be a 4/5 seed... we'll see how that goes.

[Andrew]

It's hard to glean much from an opening night win over the Bulls of all teams, but if nothing else, Young should be among the top scorers again this year. Meanwhile, very solid debut for Patrick Williams. Speaking of underwhelming, that's Wendell Carter to a tee.

Also, with Vince Carter's retirement after last season, the last player from the 90s is officially gone.

[cavs4872]

Speaking of which, John Collins played well last night:

phpBB [video]

[[Q]]

The Kings came back and beat the Nuggets in OT. They had no business doing that, as the Nuggets were up 2 in an obvious intentional foul situation. The Nuggets found themselves with an open lane to the basket and with an incredible defensive play, the Kings blocked it and came down and scored to tie the game. On the ensuing possession when they should have held for the last shot, Jokic turns the ball over and Harrison Barnes comes down and misses a layup but Buddy Hield tips the ball in at the buzzer for the win.

[Jeffx]

Is there a worse PG than Elfrid Payton????? smdh.......

[cavs4872]

To add to my earlier point about Batum and the Clippers, I just got 5 straight rage quit wins by running him at PG in Play Now Online... Batum/George/Kawhi/Ibaka/Zubac... can't be stopped.

[Andrew]

Mavericks lead the Clippers 77-27 at halftime; the largest halftime deficit since the shot clock was adopted. That's woeful.

[Jeffx]

Even after only three games, it's easy to see Thibs is the best coach NY has had since Jeff Van Gundy.

[Andrew]

Great coach, forced out by terrible management in Chicago. Hopefully, Knicks brass can at least avoid doing that.

[mp3]

Thibs cares and I love this, in fact the last coach that I saw care in NY was in fact Mike Woodson who is now in fact a lead assistant with this Knicks team so I think we are in good hands going forward.

Not sure about everyone else but iam loving this season so far, it feels like the nba is finally back. I know the fans are missing but if like me your a fan living outside the great U.S of A watching the games on TV like you usually do then with the fake crowd noise it's not that different.

[Jeffx]

Great coach, forced out by terrible management in Chicago. Hopefully, Knicks brass can at least avoid doing that.

He has a reputation of running players into the ground. All I know is, when he coached Chicago, and Rose was healthy, the Bulls were a legit contender for several years.

[mp3]

At the end of the day theses players are professional athletes and they should be able to be pushed.

The Bulls were unlucky with Roses injuries but Thibs put that team in the best possible position to win and I want that in NY

[Andrew]

I really do feel like the Bulls could've won it all in 2012 if not for Rose going down in Game 1 of the first round. They could've made some more noise, at least.

Thibs will probably always have that reputation, though it's arguably overblown. Besides, if today's players are highly evolved - contrary to the alleged "plumbers and dentists" of yesteryear - then they should have no trouble handling the rigours of Thibs' style.

[mp3]

The thing is, do you ever hear that Bulls team complain about being over worked in that era??

I remember some British outlet talking to Deng about the miles he had on his body playing for Thibs and his response was "we were competing for a ring"

Iam not saying there minutes weren't high but In a "load management" era people are gonna point the finger

[[Q]]

Even after only three games, it's easy to see Thibs is the best coach NY has had since Jeff Van Gundy.

can we also have people stop talking shit on randle

[mp3]

This 1000% Eric

Randle has been so good it's night and day on the player he was last year.

[Andrew]

The thing is, do you ever hear that Bulls team complain about being over worked in that era??

I remember some British outlet talking to Deng about the miles he had on his body playing for Thibs and his response was "we were competing for a ring"

Iam not saying there minutes weren't high but In a "load management" era people are gonna point the finger

Good point. The criticism never seemed to come from the players themselves.

[Jeffx]

This 1000% Eric

Randle has been so good it's night and day on the player he was last year.

It's all about coaching....he's bought into what Thibs is selling.

I wouldn't trade him....ride out the year and see what happens.

[mp3]

Agree Jeff

He has ultimately bought in and we are watching an allstar at work imo, tho there are now fans calling for him to be traded for 1st round picks

[Jeffx]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9G2LsWi_Ak

I've seen my share of great shooters the past 45+ years of following the NBA (Jerry West, Rick Barry, Pistol Pete, Alex English, Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, George Gervin, Chris Mullin, etc.)... NONE of them hold a candle to Steph. In this case, "latest is greatest".

[[Q]]

Agree Jeff

He has ultimately bought in and we are watching an allstar at work imo, tho there are now fans calling for him to be traded for 1st round picks

lol there's no winning with fans... at first they called for him to be traded because he couldn't carry that dumpster fire of a team out of the lottery. and now that he's "better" he's a tradable commodity?

Reminds me of the last year he was in LA. He put in a lot of work over the summer and lost a bunch of weight but moped around because he wasn't starting. Part way through the season, he got it together and played in all-star form for the rest of the season

[Andrew]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9G2LsWi_Ak

I've seen my share of great shooters the past 45+ years of following the NBA (Jerry West, Rick Barry, Pistol Pete, Alex English, Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, George Gervin, Chris Mullin, etc.)... NONE of them hold a candle to Steph. In this case, "latest is greatest".

I'm inclined to agree. Maybe the gap is debatable, but when you look at the percentages, the kind of shots he takes and makes, his range, his form, and how quickly he can get shots up, he's got a very strong case for being the best all-around shooter we've ever seen. There's also the volume of threes he'll take, without seeing a huge dip in his percentages (the small sample size from last year and so far this year aside). In that regard it's a difficult comparison to make as the game has changed and the three-point snipers of decades ago weren't getting to attempt 10 or 11 a game on average, so we don't know what they might've achieved if they had the green light to do that. All the same, we've seen what Curry can do under those circumstances, and it's impressive. I definitely don't have any quarrel with him being called the best pure shooter, or best all-around shooter, or anything of that nature.