NBA Chatter Thread

[Texas Ace]

If you can't get excited about Yogi Ferrell then you don't have a pulse.

He's been a nice surprise, but he isn't someone that has me excited about the future.

 

[Simpleton]

So for the Warriors are essentially 0-2 without Durant in the lineup. They’re still very good and I know it’s only a small sample but this is why I chuckle when people still assume they’ll come out of the West even without Durant. This isn’t the same Warriors team that won 73 games last year. They sacrificed a lot of size, depth, and experience to bring Durant onboard.

If Durant’s out I honestly don’t see them beating Houston or San Antonio.

Maybe they’ll figure things out and go on a run like previous years, but right now I’m of the opinion that you don’t just lose arguably the 2nd or 3rd best player in the world and not skip a beat.

They can get to the WCF without him, assuming they hold on to the 1 seed, and those don't start until what, about May 15th or so?

That's 2.5 months from now, he should be back by then.

The 2nd round doesn't even start until a good 2 months from now, so I don't think they have too much to worry about except for him being rusty upon return.

 

[1bigfan13]

They can get to the WCF without him, assuming they hold on to the 1 seed, and those don't start until what, about May 15th or so?

That's 2.5 months from now, he should be back by then.

The 2nd round doesn't even start until a good 2 months from now, so I don't think they have too much to worry about except for him being rusty upon return.

I agree that they’ll probably make it out of the West if he comes back and is able to play close to his normal level of play. I just reject this flippant notion that they can lose a player of Durant’s caliber and not skip a beat.

As far as the injury timeline is concerned, early to mid-May is the earliest that I expect him back. By most accounts, bone bruises typically take months (plural) to heal….2-4 months seems to be the norm for most pro athletes. So I suspect that he’ll return at some point in the 2nd round.

 

[Jiggyfly]

Last night took that L but tonight we bounce back.

Disappointing loss last night by OKC. They had a 9 point lead with about 6 minutes to play and blew it. The offense went ice cold and Steven Adams bum ass got worked over by Nurkic.

We’re still in pretty good position to pass Memphis. Hell, even the 4th seed is a real possibility. We’re only a game and a half behind the schizophrenic Clippers and two games behind the Jazz, who are currently the 4th seed.

I really like what they did with that trade, I think they really added some quality depth.

 

[1bigfan13]

Wouldn't you know it. As soon as I start praising the Thunder they start playing like shit.

Dallas was beating them so bad I gave up midway through the 3rd quarter.

As an aside, The Billy Donovan experiment hasn't been successful, IMO. He's no better than Scott Brooks.

 

[Deuce]

Wouldn't you know it. As soon as I start praising the Thunder they start playing like shit.

Dallas was beating them so bad I gave up midway through the 3rd quarter.

As an aside, The Billy Donovan experiment hasn't been successful, IMO. He's no better than Scott Brooks.

Not surprising. He was never a great coach at FL, just a great recruiter.

 

[1bigfan13]

Not surprising. He was never a great coach at FL, just a great recruiter.

I've pretty much given up on him. I don't think he's a bad coach but based on what I've seen from him so far, he appears to be the typical NBA coach who's just good enough to continuously get recycled around the league.

The thing that frustrates me the most is the players are making the same mistakes they've been making for years and no one is being held accountable for their errors.

For instance, during last night's game Westbrook's defense was horrible. He took way too many gambles trying to get steals. Which ultimately resulted in him taking himself out of position and setting off a chain reaction where other OKC players had to scramble to attempt to cover for his defensive breakdown/selfishness. And of course the defensive breakdowns led to wide open shots by Mavs players.

In the two and a half quarters that I watched I counted at least 6 possessions that played out exactly like that. And not once did I see Donovan or any other coach chastise Westbrook for his sloppy, selfish defense.

That scenario that I described above wasn't a one night thing. It happens all the time in OKC and Donovan just sits by and allows it to happen.

I've never understood why coaches are so afraid to hold their star players accountable. Especially since their job security is directly tied to how well the players and team performs.

It's no coincidence that stricter head coaches have more success across the board in sports.

 

[Deuce]

I've pretty much given up on him. I don't think he's a bad coach but based on what I've seen from him so far, he appears to be the typical NBA coach who's just good enough to continuously get recycled around the league.

The thing that frustrates me the most is the players are making the same mistakes they've been making for years and no one is being held accountable for their errors.

For instance, during last night's game Westbrook's defense was horrible. He took way too many gambles trying to get steals. Which ultimately resulted in him taking himself out of position and setting off a chain reaction where other OKC players had to scramble to attempt to cover for his defensive breakdown/selfishness. And of course the defensive breakdowns led to wide open shots by Mavs players.

In the two and a half quarters that I watched I counted at least 6 possessions that played out exactly like that. And not once did I see Donovan or any other coach chastise Westbrook for his sloppy, selfish defense.

That scenario that I described above wasn't a one night thing. It happens all the time in OKC and Donovan just sits by and allows it to happen.

I've never understood why coaches are so afraid to hold their star players accountable. Especially since their job security is directly tied to how well the players and team performs.

It's no coincidence that stricter head coaches have more success across the board in sports.

That's not a Billy problem, that's an NBA problem. Unless you're Pop and you have multiple skins on the wall, star players don't respect their coaches and allow themselves to be taken down a peg. That era of coaches died around the new millennium. Franchises know it and let it go on, resulting in players becoming coach killers. Jerry Sloan was one of the great 90's coaches and he was killed off by sorry ass Deron Williams.

So Billy has 2 choices. Play nice with his star player and potentially keep his job if his players perform or take down Westbrook and probably lose his job when he complains to ownership.

 

[1bigfan13]

That's not a Billy problem, that's an NBA problem. Unless you're Pop and you have multiple skins on the wall, star players don't respect their coaches and allow themselves to be taken down a peg. That era of coaches died around the new millennium. Franchises know it and let it go on, resulting in players becoming coach killers. Jerry Sloan was one of the great 90's coaches and he was killed off by sorry ass Deron Williams.

So Billy has 2 choices. Play nice with his star player and potentially keep his job if his players perform or take down Westbrook and probably lose his job when he complains to ownership.

That's true. Hell even Lebron needs to be checked occasionally and he's the ultimate HC on the floor.

Ty Lue came into Cleveland and stood up to him. Spoelstra and Riley did so as well in Miami.

The result: 3 titles

 

[Deuce]

That's true. Hell even Lebron needs to be checked occasionally and he's the ultimate HC on the floor.

Ty Lue came into Cleveland and stood up to him. Spoelstra and Riley did so as well in Miami.

The result: 3 titles

Has Lue stood up to him? I thought Blatt did which is why Lebron had him cut loose so his buddy Lue could take over.

 

[1bigfan13]

Has Lue stood up to him? I thought Blatt did which is why Lebron had him cut loose so his buddy Lue could take over.

YeAh. Lue has literally told him to STFU and told him to fall in line.

There were a few reports of this last season, shortly after Lue took over.

 

[Jiggyfly]

That's true. Hell even Lebron needs to be checked occasionally and he's the ultimate HC on the floor.

Ty Lue came into Cleveland and stood up to him. Spoelstra and Riley did so as well in Miami.

The result: 3 titles

I think you are maybe being a bit too simplistic here.

 

[1bigfan13]

I think you are maybe being a bit too simplistic here.

How so?

It's been widely reported that Lebron tried to throw his weight around a bit in Miami, but Riley wasn't having it.

Plus he was dismissive of Blatt at times; whereas Lue's been a bit more firm with him.

As great as Lebron is, he needs to be reined in at times because a lot of times his ideas aren't conducive to winning titles. And that's really not a knock on Lebron. Most star players in Lebron's position have huge egos and think they know what's best for the team, but very rarely are great players effective coaches. The same can be said for coaches trying to be personnel gurus.

 

[Jiggyfly]

Great game last night between the Rockets and Spurs.

Once again we lose a game that we were up by 16 at one point.

Leonard has come a long way, he hit a huge 3 to go up at the end.

The only silver lining is that Williams was off and Anderson missed most of the game with a hamstring and we still had a chance to win.

 

[jsmith6919]

 

[1bigfan13]

Soooooo…..about that post All-Star break/trade deadline positive buzz that I had about OKC.

Four straight losses to sub .500 teams. That’s pretty telling. That’s more than just a midseason funk. That’s the sign of a dysfunctional squad that lacks proper guidance and coaching.

At this point I’d rather they miss the playoffs and get a lottery pick. Oh yeah, and fire Billy Donovan as well. He’s not an impactful coach at all.

Also, the Steven Adams contract is going to go down as one of the worst contracts in recent history. Prior to the start of the season they signed him to a 4 year $100M contract. Since January he’s shooting around 45% from the FT and only putting up around 5 ppg & 5 rpg.

 

[Cotton]

Just really cool. And Dirk is just such a good guy. Very well deserved cheers.

 

[Texas Ace]

Just really cool. And Dirk is just such a good guy. Very well deserved cheers.

One of my 5 favorite athletes of all time.

That Mavs championship in 2011 meant more to me than I thought it would. I was absolutely ecstatic that night. In fact, I think I got drunk and then hit up my boy [MENTION=12]Deuce[/MENTION] for some online gaming.

Anyhow, I was so happy for Dirk that night. So glad that such a great player and great guy got his ring.

That guy will forever be a DFW legend.

 

[Texas Ace]

Oh, how about that performance from Kawhi against the Rockets the other night?

Some are even saying he won the MVP that night in that late game sequence.

Thoughts [MENTION=63]Jiggyfly[/MENTION]?

 

[1bigfan13]

Just really cool. And Dirk is just such a good guy. Very well deserved cheers.

It was a great moment. Thanks to all the Twitter talk, I just so happened to tune in to the game on the possession that he hit that shot.