Jump to content

NBA Thread 2013-2014


Recommended Posts

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 10:59 AM)
The team that has the worst record never seems to win the lottery anyways. Besides, getting Julius Randle or Dante Exum (if he comes out) wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

 

They do have some nice young talent. Vucevic is way better than I expected when they acquired him, Oladipo is legit and Harris and Harkless are fairly solid (my fantasy needs Harris to get back though!).

I think what you can say about Orlando is that no-one expected them to have the young talent they currently have when Dwight wanted out in the last off-season.

 

Hennigan has pretty much hit on every move he's made so far, he easily won the Dwight trade by getting 3 starters (albeit Harkless wouldn't start on a lot of teams) and 2 future 1st's, Oladipo looks much better than Anthony Bennett currently, and also getting Tobias Harris for Redick's ending contract.

 

To go from having Hedo, Davis, Jason Richardson and Arenas as core pieces 24/36 months ago to having younger pieces such as Vucevic and Nicholson producing well, I think he's done a very good job so far, and it'll be interesting to see what he does when we have some cap space in the off-season.

 

I would almost look at targeting Exum in the draft if he committs (being an Aussie certainly help), and going after a good PF in Free Agency (such as LaMarcus Aldridge if he left Portland), and then you'd have a pretty decent lineup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 7.6k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 06:09 PM)
Speaking of Anthony Bennett, he still has yet to record ONE basket this season. Not one. That's crazy.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but taking Dion Waiters at #4 in the previous year's draft really forced their hand.

 

I wonder if Kyrie Irving thinks if he can win with that team as currently constructed in the long-term.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 02:17 AM)
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but taking Dion Waiters at #4 in the previous year's draft really forced their hand.

 

I wonder if Kyrie Irving thinks if he can win with that team as currently constructed in the long-term.

He can take his talents to South Beach when they let Wade go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 08:17 AM)
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but taking Dion Waiters at #4 in the previous year's draft really forced their hand.

 

I wonder if Kyrie Irving thinks if he can win with that team as currently constructed in the long-term.

 

This is what kills teams that are consistently in lottery. They start trying to force players to fill out their team and they lose sight of franchise changing BPA.

 

Edited by bmags
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 5, 2013 -> 01:17 AM)
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but taking Dion Waiters at #4 in the previous year's draft really forced their hand.

 

I wonder if Kyrie Irving thinks if he can win with that team as currently constructed in the long-term.

 

Throw in the Tristan Thompson pick too, they reached on all three of those. Without stretching things too much (ie expecting them to take Kawhi or Klay Thompson), they could have had Jonas Valanciunas, Andre Drummond and Victor Oladipo. Instead, they have Thompson, Waiters and Bennett. Their bad picks definitely forced their hand on subsequent picks, which is why I'd be shocked if Kyrie stays (unless Lebron miraculously returns).

 

I was never a fan of the Bennett pick, he pretty much looked like a clone of Michael Beasley/Derrick Williams. At least they got the Irving pick right...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been paying so much attention to the West that I didn't realize how good Paul George and the Pacers have been. PG looks like he's about to make the leap to superstar. Which means the Bulls will no longer have that advantage (assuming Rose gets back to MVP form). Hibbert is blocking every shot in sight. They've got more depth. Granger is a luxury at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Nov 6, 2013 -> 12:18 PM)
Throw in the Tristan Thompson pick too, they reached on all three of those. Without stretching things too much (ie expecting them to take Kawhi or Klay Thompson), they could have had Jonas Valanciunas, Andre Drummond and Victor Oladipo. Instead, they have Thompson, Waiters and Bennett. Their bad picks definitely forced their hand on subsequent picks, which is why I'd be shocked if Kyrie stays (unless Lebron miraculously returns).

 

I was never a fan of the Bennett pick, he pretty much looked like a clone of Michael Beasley/Derrick Williams. At least they got the Irving pick right...

I think another point that you've raised is about Small Forwards that get drafted very highly such as Beasley / Williams, where they're not really cut out to be 3's and play more like 4's, but in the NBA, they're not big enough to play the 4, and are willing to post up. So they fit that "tweener" sort of mould, and that's exactly the problem I see with Bennett, he's not athletic enough to play the 3 IMO, but he'll get dominated down low by the bigger 4's in the league.

 

I think with the Small Forward position in the NBA today, unless you have a real special talent like a Lebron or a Durant, you'd want a "glue guy" such as a Luol Deng, Andre Igoudala etc. Someone who won't shoot the ball 20 times a game at around 35% success (Carmelo come on down), but can play very solid defense, hit the corner 3, and give you solid rebounding. Having a star big or PG is probably going to be a better outcome, unless you have either James or Durant (although Paul George is quickly heading to that status also).

 

There's already speculation about Irving joining the Knicks, but I don't see how that can happen cap wise, and I think actually Orlando gets either Denver or New York's 1st rounder at this year's draft, which could actually end up being a pick b/w 10 and 20 the way both teams are looking at present.

 

I'll be curious to see what happens with Eric Bledsoe come the end of the season also. His current averages aren't sustainable, but if he can get over 17.5 PPG and 6 AST's a game come the end of the season, how close does that get him to say $12-$15M a season from someone? The A/TO Ratio at present is terrible though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 6, 2013 -> 05:43 AM)
I think another point that you've raised is about Small Forwards that get drafted very highly such as Beasley / Williams, where they're not really cut out to be 3's and play more like 4's, but in the NBA, they're not big enough to play the 4, and are willing to post up. So they fit that "tweener" sort of mould, and that's exactly the problem I see with Bennett, he's not athletic enough to play the 3 IMO, but he'll get dominated down low by the bigger 4's in the league.

 

I think with the Small Forward position in the NBA today, unless you have a real special talent like a Lebron or a Durant, you'd want a "glue guy" such as a Luol Deng, Andre Igoudala etc. Someone who won't shoot the ball 20 times a game at around 35% success (Carmelo come on down), but can play very solid defense, hit the corner 3, and give you solid rebounding. Having a star big or PG is probably going to be a better outcome, unless you have either James or Durant (although Paul George is quickly heading to that status also).

 

There's already speculation about Irving joining the Knicks, but I don't see how that can happen cap wise, and I think actually Orlando gets either Denver or New York's 1st rounder at this year's draft, which could actually end up being a pick b/w 10 and 20 the way both teams are looking at present.

 

I'll be curious to see what happens with Eric Bledsoe come the end of the season also. His current averages aren't sustainable, but if he can get over 17.5 PPG and 6 AST's a game come the end of the season, how close does that get him to say $12-$15M a season from someone? The A/TO Ratio at present is terrible though.

 

Those guys definitely had issues. I was blinded by Beasley's dominance in college, but the other two I didn't really like. You can throw in a bunch of 6'9" "athletes" that people take for potential too like Tyrus Thomas or Stromile Swift. It's tricky though because guys with legit SF talent frequently play PF in college (Durant, Melo, Granger, Deng are a few off the top of my head).

 

It just doesn't seem like they are many elite wing players right now, most of the top shot-creators end up at the point right now. Every team would rather have a Lebron/Durant/Harden/George (and probably Melo, though he doesn't always play smart), but if you don't have one of them you probably want a 3-and-D type that blends in.

 

The Knicks could have cap space depending on how things shake out over the next two years. Chandler and Amare both expire after 14/15 (Amare's is technically a player option, but he's not turning down $23 million) and they only have $13 mil committed outside of a potential Melo extension. Who knows what they'll do between now and then though.

 

Someone will definitely pay Bledsoe a ton.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Nov 6, 2013 -> 06:31 PM)
Those guys definitely had issues. I was blinded by Beasley's dominance in college, but the other two I didn't really like. You can throw in a bunch of 6'9" "athletes" that people take for potential too like Tyrus Thomas or Stromile Swift. It's tricky though because guys with legit SF talent frequently play PF in college (Durant, Melo, Granger, Deng are a few off the top of my head).

 

It just doesn't seem like they are many elite wing players right now, most of the top shot-creators end up at the point right now. Every team would rather have a Lebron/Durant/Harden/George (and probably Melo, though he doesn't always play smart), but if you don't have one of them you probably want a 3-and-D type that blends in.

 

The Knicks could have cap space depending on how things shake out over the next two years. Chandler and Amare both expire after 14/15 (Amare's is technically a player option, but he's not turning down $23 million) and they only have $13 mil committed outside of a potential Melo extension. Who knows what they'll do between now and then though.

 

Someone will definitely pay Bledsoe a ton.

 

On the other hand, the college 4 is quite often really just 3b. So many teams go out there with 3 guards, a small forward type, plus a PF/C (not really many true C's in college, or anywhere)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...