Black Cat Bone

IT looked pretty good last night for the Cavs. They're keeping him out of Boston game tonight and he said he didn't want video tribute. He is still very angry with Ainge and the trade.

Can't say I blame him. He got screwed over a max payout and it was a trade that went against what Boston supposedly stands for as an organisation. I hope they sweep them in the semis before losing out to the Bucks in ECF.

While cruel, It made good basketball sense to me.

The Great Defector wrote:While cruel, It made good basketball sense to me.

It did. IT, while a good offensive player, was even more a defensive liability than Irving. The Celtics got Irving, have prospective rookie of the year in Jayson Tatum, who's been a very good stand in for the injured Hayward and the Cavs got IT and Crowder. While maybe not even, it filled spots for both clubs.

The Celtics don't have a ton of depth, but they have a ton of money and draft picks. . . again.

Irving wasn't a defense liability, look at him in boston. Love has to be hid on defense, so does James. I don't rate lue at all as a coach. Realistically nobody does. After their losses in the finals, how many people blamed lue and his tactics? Nobody, because no one gave him a second thought. In an ironic way, he'd want to be questioned etc otherwise they're pretty much saying you have no affect on this team. Cav's defense is gonna be worse with Thomas, far worse. If were coaching against the cavs, my first target would be Thomas, in post up or one one, then Love then James. If they don't make the finals, I wouldn't be surprised. It's not like they can outscore other teams all the time.

The Great Defector wrote:Irving wasn't a defense liability, look at him in boston. Love has to be hid on defense

The NBA through the looking glass. Irving could be okay if he wants to be, Love is definitely terrible, especially in the new NBA where he's relegated to guarding centers and James. He's only made 7 or 8 first or second team all defense.

That's just ridiculous. 2016 finals he had six blocks on Curry alone, including this famous one.

Next time you watch the cavs, watch james on defense. Forget about the ball, he has one or two help d blocks and people go crazy(go back to my thing about James and ESPN) but he does that once every 3 months. He's does not rotate, he doesn't run back on D, he does not put his body on the line, and one on one he doesn't make the effort. If all defensive teams lists is want you go by then you're bought in and been suckered in. No harm john, you see the small picture instead of the larger picture. By your rationale alone, if he's so good why does the cav's D suck so much?

The Great Defector wrote:Next time you watch the cavs, watch james on defense. Forget about the ball, he has one or two help d blocks and people go crazy(go back to my thing about James and ESPN) but he does that once every 3 months. He's does not rotate, he doesn't run back on D, he does not put his body on the line, and one on one he doesn't make the effort. If all defensive teams lists is want you go by then you're bought in and been suckered in. No harm john, you see the small picture instead of the larger picture. By your rationale alone, if he's so good why does the cav's D suck so much?

7 or 8 all D teams. I think that's a pretty good resume.

Like Kobe when he got older, he's not the same defensive player he was and picks his spots, but he's still better than 90% of the guys out there. He hasn't made an all defensive team in four years, but he's still very good.

The Cavs generally suck on D, but I'd say Thompson, Crowder, Shumpert, and even JR Smith, are good defensive players when they want to be. I don't know why the Cavs are so bad on D, considering all those guys are decent.

London Perrantes, backup point guard from Virginia, is very good. Univ. of Virginia, coached by Tony Bennett, always has very good defensive teams.

sloopjohnc wrote:

The Great Defector wrote:While cruel, It made good basketball sense to me.

It did. IT, while a good offensive player, was even more a defensive liability than Irving. The Celtics got Irving, have prospective rookie of the year in Jayson Tatum, who's been a very good stand in for the injured Hayward and the Cavs got IT and Crowder. While maybe not even, it filled spots for both clubs.

The Celtics don't have a ton of depth, but they have a ton of money and draft picks. . . again.

Can't believe they traded the Nets pick which everyone assumed would be top 3 or so and will end up with the Lakers pick which will definitely end up top 5 due to how much the Lakers suck.

Look at the kid in background. Gotta love it.

sloopjohnc wrote:

The Great Defector wrote:Next time you watch the cavs, watch james on defense. Forget about the ball, he has one or two help d blocks and people go crazy(go back to my thing about James and ESPN) but he does that once every 3 months. He's does not rotate, he doesn't run back on D, he does not put his body on the line, and one on one he doesn't make the effort. If all defensive teams lists is want you go by then you're bought in and been suckered in. No harm john, you see the small picture instead of the larger picture. By your rationale alone, if he's so good why does the cav's D suck so much?

7 or 8 all D teams. I think that's a pretty good resume.

Like Kobe when he got older, he's not the same defensive player he was and picks his spots, but he's still better than 90% of the guys out there. He hasn't made an all defensive team in four years, but he's still very good.

The Cavs generally suck on D, but I'd say Thompson, Crowder, Shumpert, and even JR Smith, are good defensive players when they want to be. I don't know why the Cavs are so bad on D, considering all those guys are decent.

London Perrantes, backup point guard from Virginia, is very good. Univ. of Virginia, coached by Tony Bennett, always has very good defensive teams.

You're smoking something john, James was never a good defender, smith? A good defender? At any time in his career? Pass the doobie there john you had enough.

How do you explain the All defensive teams then?

2013 - 2014 - second team
2012 - 2013 - first team
2011 - 2012 - first team
2010 - 2011 - first team
2009 - 2010 - first team
2008 - 2009 - first team

Yeah, it's the first time I heard anyone say that Lebron isn't a great defender.

I can't explain them, but at the same time I've never taken them seriously. How much is true and how much is down to popularity. Again watch James on defense, not helping and not running back to mention a few things. Have you ever heard NBA colour commentators? Every single player in the NBA is an underrated passer, defender, shooter. JVG is the worse for that, but I think he's funny so I don't mind when he does it.

The Great Defector wrote:I can't explain them, but at the same time I've never taken them seriously. How much is true and how much is down to popularity. Again watch James on defense, not helping and not running back to mention a few things. Have you ever heard NBA colour commentators? Every single player in the NBA is an underrated passer, defender, shooter. JVG is the worse for that, but I think he's funny so I don't mind when he does it.

No one will ever say you're an underrated grammarian, that's for sure.

I is what I is.

After Curry's 45 pts last night, it made me think how the Warriors have changed the game with their 23 ft. layups.

I used to think the three pointer should be a last ditch effort or a very selective, strategically timed shot to be taken during games.

Steph, Klay and Durant show it's just a regular arsenal. By the way, the Warriors are shooting over 50% as a team so it's not like you can say they're not a high percentage team. In fact, Kerr says one of the keys to them winning is if they put up more shots than the other team. And it's not like they don't share as they regularly top 30 assists a game.

Man, the lakers MUST BE, HAVE TO BE, regretting drafting Ball. His da is saying that Walton lost the changing room. Part of me was thinking if he was in eastern Europe, he'd be out of sight, out of mind. Nope.

The Great Defector wrote:Man, the lakers MUST BE, HAVE TO BE, regretting drafting Ball. His da is saying that Walton lost the changing room. Part of me was thinking if he was in eastern Europe, he'd be out of sight, out of mind. Nope.

LaVar Ball has got to be the biggest pain in the neck of all time.

Luckily, Luke's dad has a pretty big personality himself so he must be used to this kind of thing.

It's hard to get a young team in the right direction. I'm sure Thibodeau thought his problem was solved when the Wolves acquired Jimmy Butler, but they can still be very lackadaisical on D.

When the game clock hits zero at the conclusion of tonight’s game between the Warriors and Nuggets, Golden State will be precisely halfway through the regular season. After going undefeated on a three-game road trip last week, the Dubs are guaranteed to have the best winning percentage of any team in the league at that point.

Through the first 40 games of this season, the Warriors have nearly matched their success of the last. Golden State went 34-6 through their first 40 games of the 2016-17 season on their way to their second championship in three years. Over those 40 games, they produced an offensive rating of 113.3 and defensive rating of 101.7, which correlates to a plus-11.6 net rating, meaning they outscored their opponents by 11.6 points per 100 possessions.

This season, the numbers are nearly identical.

Golden State currently sits two wins behind their pace of a year ago with a record of 32-8. They’ve produced an offensive rating of 113.0, a defensive rating of 101.9 and a net rating of plus-11.1. As of this writing, the Warriors rank first, third and first in the NBA in those respective categories.

If you factor in the high volume of injuries that the Warriors have suffered so far this season, it’s not going out on a limb to proclaim the Dubs have quite possibly had an even stronger first half to this season than they did a year ago. Going into tonight’s game, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia, Omri Casspi, Patrick McCaw, David West and Nick Young have combined to miss 57 total games due to injury, illness, rest and/or suspension, a number that will be increased by at least one later tonight as Durant has already been ruled out and will miss his third-straight game with a right calf strain. Golden State has already used 13 different starting lineups after using a total of 14 in 2016-17, and Klay Thompson is the only Warrior to start every game so far this season.

It’s not just that they’ve had players out of the lineup; it’s which players they’ve had to play without. Still, amazingly, Golden State has a winning record in games missed by each one of those aforementioned players, so clearly they’ve been able to overcome significant adversity.

Last week was further evidence of that, as the Dubs took care of the Mavericks, Rockets and Clippers to improve their road winning streak to 10 games, tied for the second-longest road winning streak in franchise history. They also accomplished a franchise first, as Saturday’s win over the Clippers ensured Golden State swept their road games against both Los Angeles teams for the first time since the Clippers moved to L.A. in 1984-85. Given those victories and the fact that the Warriors are the only Pacific Division team currently with a winning record, Golden State appears well on pace to capture their fourth-straight division title.

That’s not the Warriors’ ultimate goal, but it’s an important stepping-stone along the way. Despite how they’ve made it look, Golden State hasn’t exactly had it easy up to this point given the injuries, but halfway through the 2017-18 regular season, the Dubs have to feel confident about the direction they’re headed.