It's showtime -- let the (NBA) games begin!

[Alsacs]

How good is this year's draft class supposed to be?
I ask because the Nets are going to be bottom 3 bad
And with Boogie Cousins watch 2017 underway I want to know if he is worth giving up Jalen Brown and this year's Nets pick for.
Boston would be clear cut 3rd in the East if they swung that trade.

 

[MikeSU02]

Sorry to sound like sports radio guy, but...

Hot Take: The Clips are much better without Griffin clogging up lane for Jordan. The Redick, Paul, Jordan 3some works great on offense

And at what point do Blake's injuries take his trade value down a notch, if it hasn't already?

If I'm the Clips, I start checking what the market is for him at this point.

 

[MikeSU02]

Westbrook over Harden for me.

Harden's stats are D'Antoni'd and he has a MUCH better team around him...like basically every position. Thunder would be possibly worst team in league w/o Russ.

I think I'm with you on Russ over Harden right now. You replace Russ with an average point guard and I don't know what the OKC team would be.

 

[Alsacs]

And at what point do Blake's injuries take his trade value down a notch, if it hasn't already?

If I'm the Clips, I start checking what the market is for him at this point.

In the summer Boston offered the 2017 Nets pick,
Jae Crowder, and Amir Johnson.
Doc tuRned that down. He isn't getting that value now.

 

[MikeSU02]

How good is this year's draft class supposed to be?
I ask because the Nets are going to be bottom 3 bad
And with Boogie Cousins watch 2017 underway I want to know if he is worth giving up Jalen Brown and this year's Nets pick for.
Boston would be clear cut 3rd in the East if they swung that trade.

Considered a very good draft.

Boogie with proper coaching and structure could be dominant.

I guess it's how you feel about Fultz and if you want to roll the dice and try to land the #1. I don't think you hold out on the trade for Fox, Jackson, Monk, etc.

I think you roll the dice with Boogie.

 

[Knicks411]

Sorry to sound like sports radio guy, but...

Hot Take: The Clips are much better without Griffin clogging up lane for Jordan. The Redick, Paul, Jordan 3some works great on offense

They played pretty well without Blake last year as well, if I recall. I think it's less a knock on Blake and more, like you said, the spacing isn't fantastic with both Blake and Deandre on the court and the Paul/Jordan pick and roll spreads the court well. But they were still better when he played than when he sat.

And at what point do Blake's injuries take his trade value down a notch, if it hasn't already?

If I'm the Clips, I start checking what the market is for him at this point.

I guess? I mean he's a FA at the end of the season anyway, so I dunno. Another knee injury doesn't fill you with confidence, I get that, but until you know where the Nets pick is and have a better feel for the draft, the Boston package mentioned above still seems awfully light to me.

I think I'm legally obligated to float my Melo for Blake trade here. Melo is a few years too old for it to really work, but aside from that, I think it each guy is a better fit for the other team. Melo on the Clippers allows you to spread the court around the Paul/Jordan pick and roll while Blake's biggest problem is that he's not really a rim protector and he doesn't stretch the floor to the 3 point line and the Porzingis at the 5 (when that happens) takes care of that

 

[Fireball Jr.]

I think I'm with you on Russ over Harden right now. You replace Russ with an average point guard and I don't know what the OKC team would be.

Russ is a freak: 45, 11, 11 tonight to lead OKC over the Celts in Boston, 14th triple-double of the season, and this sweet dagger. Doesn't look like the net even moved.

 

[MikeSU02]

Russ is a freak: 45, 11, 11 tonight to lead OKC over the Celts in Boston, 14th triple-double of the season, and this sweet dagger. Doesn't look like the net even moved.

Watched the game. He's absurd.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

A full day of NBA -- Santa, Hanukkah Harry and Chico Escuela have been berry, berry good to Fireball Junior this holiday season. Looking forward most of all to the Cavs-Warriors, of course, which already has all the makings of a great modern-day old-skool rivalry a la Lakers-Celts with, by my quick count, three locks for the Hall of Fame and three more on the fast track.

Jason Lloyd: Finals rematch is exciting on Christmas Day but doesn’t alter the big picture

 

[Fireball Jr.]

A technical for smiling and winking? That's a new one.

I agree with Jeff Van Gundy: you're 36-year-old Richard Jefferson and you throw it down over Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, taunt -- or wink -- away.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Shades of Wilt the Stilt and Rick Barry -- Arinze's little bro brings underhanded free throws back to the NBA. Good for him.

Rockets’ Chinanu Onuaku drains his 1st underhand free throw in the NBA

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Russ is a freak... 17 rebounds, 15th triple-double this season, a joy to watch.

 

[OrangeDW]

Russ is a freak... 17 rebounds, 15th triple-double this season, a joy to watch.

He's a great player and a great interview...his responses to stupid questions are always hilarious. Very likable player.

 

[Knicks411]

Been off the board for a few days, did we talk about how amazing the Warriors-Cavs game was on Sunday? Good lord that was awesome.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Been off the board for a few days, did we talk about how amazing the Warriors-Cavs game was on Sunday? Good lord that was awesome.

Awesome and any other number of adjectives. Hate to say it on a college sports board, but that game was a prime example of why college hoops is harder and harder for me to watch.

LeBron is a perfect teammate for Kyrie to flourish. Drew's a stone-cold killer. I never watched Kyrie till LeBron went home, I started to think latter part of last season that a good argument could be made that Kyrie's better, more valuable, than Steph.

Cavs-Warriors has become a great rivalry.

I caught some of Dan LeBatard's show Monday morning and his sidekick Stu Gotz threw out what sounds like a great idea: have the Cavs and Warriors play each other 82 times to determine home court, then have a 7-game playoff.

 

[Knicks411]

Awesome and any other number of adjectives. Hate to say it on a college sports board, but that game was a prime example of why college hoops is harder and harder for me to watch.

LeBron is a perfect teammate for Kyrie to flourish. Drew's a stone-cold killer. I never watched Kyrie till LeBron went home, I started to think latter part of last season that a good argument could be made that Kyrie's better, more valuable, than Steph.

Cavs-Warriors has become a great rivalry.

I caught some of Dan LeBatard's show Monday morning and his sidekick Stu Gotz threw out what sounds like a great idea: have the Cavs and Warriors play each other 82 times to determine home court, then have a 7-game playoff.

I am not ready to go that far yet. Steph's shooting completely changes the game. Kyrie is a fantastic scorer though

 

[OrangeDW]

I am not ready to go that far yet. Steph's shooting completely changes the game. Kyrie is a fantastic scorer though

Agreed. But Kyrie outplayed him in the finals last year, and outplayed him on Christmas. And Curry had to be subbed out for the final possession for defensive purposes. It's closer than many people realize, in my opinion. Agreed that Curry's shooting is just so next level that it makes the game so much easier for the rest of his team, making him the better and more valuable player. But he flat out cannot check Kyrie.

 

[Knicks411]

Agreed. But Kyrie outplayed him in the finals last year, and outplayed him on Christmas. And Curry had to be subbed out for the final possession for defensive purposes. It's closer than many people realize, in my opinion. Agreed that Curry's shooting is just so next level that it makes the game so much easier for the rest of his team, making him the better and more valuable player. But he flat out cannot check Kyrie.

yeah i definitely noticed they had him out for that last possession on defense.

I want to defend Steph a little and say he was real banged up last year in the finals which maybe brought his game down a notch, but the Cavs have done about as good a job as you can defending him.

It's amazing Steph is at 39.9% from 3, and this would be, by far, his worst % in a season. Both amazing that he's never been below 42% before and amazing he's shooting his worst % in a season where he has Kevin Durant on the roster

 

[MikeSU02]

yeah i definitely noticed they had him out for that last possession on defense.

I want to defend Steph a little and say he was real banged up last year in the finals which maybe brought his game down a notch, but the Cavs have done about as good a job as you can defending him.

It's amazing Steph is at 39.9% from 3, and this would be, by far, his worst % in a season. Both amazing that he's never been below 42% before and amazing he's shooting his worst % in a season where he has Kevin Durant on the roster

I think Steph went from overrated just a bit (when people were putting him above Bron, really excusing his defensive ceiling, even though his effort was always there) to underrating him now (Kryie being better than him, for instance).

Until they iron out the system with KD and Steph, Steph is going to appear less valuable than he really is. Right now, making their contracts equal, if you proposed a trade, straight up, of Kyrie for Steph, what team would you rather be?

Now, Kyrie will continue to be an all star and will get in the HoF. Steph Curry is the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA. That is a meaningful difference.

 

[kirbivore]

Glad to break a three year streak losing to those cross town .

 

[Knicks411]

I think Steph went from overrated just a bit (when people were putting him above Bron, really excusing his defensive ceiling, even though his effort was always there) to underrating him now (Kryie being better than him, for instance).

Until they iron out the system with KD and Steph, Steph is going to appear less valuable than he really is. Right now, making their contracts equal, if you proposed a trade, straight up, of Kyrie for Steph, what team would you rather be?

Now, Kyrie will continue to be an all star and will get in the HoF. Steph Curry is the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA. That is a meaningful difference.

Agreed.

I guess I went too far last year because I was one of the people saying that Steph at least was playing better during the season than Lebron, even if he wasn't necessarily a better player than Lebron in a vacuum, because you had to know Lebron was at least on cruise control a little during the season. And the thing is, if Steph is going to have a 67% true shooting, he might be better than Lebron even when Lebron turns it on, because that kind of shooting is out of this world.

The Warriors are amazing to me, they actually rank higher in defense now (first) than offense (2nd). Though the offensive rating is one of the best of all time, the Raptors are somehow ahead of them. And they're first in defense after trading Bogut!

a bit of a tangent, if you had to rank the Warriors big 4 in importance, what's your order? Mine is

1) Durant
2) Steph
3) Green
4) Klay

You could actually convince me to flip flop Steph and Green because of how valuable Green is defensively, but i dunno

 

[Melancer46]

Agreed.

I guess I went too far last year because I was one of the people saying that Steph at least was playing better during the season than Lebron, even if he wasn't necessarily a better player than Lebron in a vacuum, because you had to know Lebron was at least on cruise control a little during the season. And the thing is, if Steph is going to have a 67% true shooting, he might be better than Lebron even when Lebron turns it on, because that kind of shooting is out of this world.

The Warriors are amazing to me, they actually rank higher in defense now (first) than offense (2nd). Though the offensive rating is one of the best of all time, the Raptors are somehow ahead of them. And they're first in defense after trading Bogut!

a bit of a tangent, if you had to rank the Warriors big 4 in importance, what's your order? Mine is

1) Durant
2) Steph
3) Green
4) Klay

You could actually convince me to flip flop Steph and Green because of how valuable Green is defensively, but i dunno

I think your 4 is correct.

Very interested to see how Golden State maneuvers the new CBA.

 

[MikeSU02]

Agreed.

I guess I went too far last year because I was one of the people saying that Steph at least was playing better during the season than Lebron, even if he wasn't necessarily a better player than Lebron in a vacuum, because you had to know Lebron was at least on cruise control a little during the season. And the thing is, if Steph is going to have a 67% true shooting, he might be better than Lebron even when Lebron turns it on, because that kind of shooting is out of this world.

The Warriors are amazing to me, they actually rank higher in defense now (first) than offense (2nd). Though the offensive rating is one of the best of all time, the Raptors are somehow ahead of them. And they're first in defense after trading Bogut!

a bit of a tangent, if you had to rank the Warriors big 4 in importance, what's your order? Mine is

1) Durant
2) Steph
3) Green
4) Klay

You could actually convince me to flip flop Steph and Green because of how valuable Green is defensively, but i dunno

I still think Steph is #1. His range is legitimately +2-3 feet more than KD or Klay and his handle is legitimately 2x as good as either of those guys. He just makes the spacing that much better for everyone.

At the end of the day, you need to get buckets to win. You cannot start a team and expect to win a title with Draymond as your number 1. You would say that about Steph and KD, imo.

Good discussion, though!

 

[Knicks411]

I still think Steph is #1. His range is legitimately +2-3 feet more than KD or Klay and his handle is legitimately 2x as good as either of those guys. He just makes the spacing that much better for everyone.

At the end of the day, you need to get buckets to win. You cannot start a team and expect to win a title with Draymond as your number 1. You would say that about Steph and KD, imo.

Good discussion, though!

There's no question in a vacuum, starting a team from scratch tomorrow, I take Steph over Dray, for the points you make. I just meant in the context of the Warriors. Steph is the best shooter in the history of the league, but the Warriors also have 2 of the best shooters in the league with KD and Klay. If they lost Steph, I think they'd have a better chance of filling in those offensive possessions with more looks for KD and Klay than if they had to replace what Draymond does for them across the board.

I think your 4 is correct.

Very interested to see how Golden State maneuvers the new CBA.

I'm guessing they'll be able to make max cap space for KD by using Steph's cap hold (which has to be pretty low) and maybe getting rid of some ancillary guys before then giving Steph the super mega max?

 

[Melancer46]

I'm guessing they'll be able to make max cap space for KD by using Steph's cap hold (which has to be pretty low) and maybe getting rid of some ancillary guys before then giving Steph the super mega max?

As far as I understand it, the Warriors can bring both Curry and Durant back, but in the process, it would basically be the Big 4, Kevin Looney, Patrick McCaw, Damion Jones, Ian Clark, two $4 million per year guys, and then minimum contracts. Not exactly ideal in terms of depth; they'll essentially have to replace Iguodala, Livingston, and Zaza with a couple super cheap free agents and minimum guys.