NBA 2017-2018 thread

[Alsacs]

Tommy loves Baynes.

He is going to be his new Walter McCarty.

 

[Knicks411]

Color me crazy (you wouldn't be the first), but I like the Cavs' lineup that Ty Lue's putting together with Kyrie gone and Isaiah Thomas maybe 3 months away from being ready. Love the move to move Love to center and have the high-energy Tristan Thompson coming off the bench -- plus having Wade, for now at least, running the second unit,

Two weeks from tonight, season openers, Boston at Cleveland, Houston at GS. I'm as happy as a little girl.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue anoints Kevin Love starting center; Dwyane Wade likes ‘playmaker’ role with second unit

I can't really agree. I think their guard rotation, sans IT, is a disaster.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Color me crazy (you wouldn't be the first), but I like the Cavs' lineup that Ty Lue's putting together with Kyrie gone and Isaiah Thomas maybe 3 months away from being ready. Love the move to move Love to center and have the high-energy Tristan Thompson coming off the bench -- plus having Wade, for now at least, running the second unit,

Two weeks from tonight, season openers, Boston at Cleveland, Houston at GS. I'm as happy as a little girl.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue anoints Kevin Love starting center; Dwyane Wade likes ‘playmaker’ role with second unit

Love playing center tells me they don't care if he's happy.

 

[Alsacs]

Kuzma not Ball looks like the best Lakers rookie.

Ball better be decent defensively as he is going to get treated like Rajon Rondo offensively as teams will play him to pass.

 

[OrangeDW]

Kuzma not Ball looks like the best Lakers rookie.

Ball better be decent defensively as he is going to get treated like Rajon Rondo offensively as teams will play him to pass.

Kuzma looks legit.

 

[OrangeDW]

Teams will go under the screen on Ball on pick and rolls until he makes them pay to the point where they can’t do it. He’s gotta improve defensively too.

He’s got a ton of talent though. He will have his ups and downs this year. I think Ennis is in a great spot. I think there will be a lot of games this year where he’s more effective than Ball as he will shoot it better and make fewer mistakes, and while he’s not a special passer like Ball, he is a solid distributor.

 

[Knicks411]

NEW NBA ALL FORMAT IS AWESOME

 

[OrangeDW]

NEW NBA ALL FORMAT IS AWESOME

Hopefully they start trying reasonably hard again. It’s been completely unwatchable recently.

 

[Knicks411]

Hopefully they start trying reasonably hard again. It’s been completely unwatchable recently.

I think there's gonna be so much drama.

 

[Alsacs]

NBA All-Star Game ditches East-West format
Playground style.
As said above hopefully the ASG becomes somewhat watchable again.

 

[Melancer46]

Teams will go under the screen on Ball on pick and rolls until he makes them pay to the point where they can’t do it. He’s gotta improve defensively too.

He’s got a ton of talent though. He will have his ups and downs this year. I think Ennis is in a great spot. I think there will be a lot of games this year where he’s more effective than Ball as he will shoot it better and make fewer mistakes, and while he’s not a special passer like Ball, he is a solid distributor.

I love watching Lonzo play, but the Lakers gotta be creative with how they use him. He's going to be awesome in transition...I think literally everyone can agree with that. In the half-court though, he's just not a traditional PG at all. He's not the type that can dribble the air out of the ball, operating pick and rolls left and right and just picking defenses apart that way. He's more like what Jason Kidd was like down the stretch in his career, where he wasn't the initiator but he was the guy that would make good cuts, spot up, and make the extra pass; they need to sort of create transition opportunities within the halfcourt for him, meaning to get him the ball while the defense is already off-balance. He's not a very good ball-handler and is a pretty stiff athlete, so he's going to likely struggle to break his man down and create opportunities for himself and teammates the traditional way, but if for example you can throw a skip pass to him and let him attack closeouts, he'll be able to destroy defenses that way. For this reason, I think the development of Ingram and Randle will be a huge key to how Lonzo pans out (at least in the short-term). If those two can put pressure on the defense and be willing passers to find Lonzo, he can do the rest from there, but if the Lakers expect Lonzo to make everything happen on his own in the halfcourt, I think he's really going to struggle.

And he definitely needs to get that shot of his to start dropping; seems like that's been a struggle for him dating back to summer league.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

NBA All-Star Game ditches East-West format
Playground style.
As said above hopefully the ASG becomes somewhat watchable again.

Don't have enough players in the East to compete. Makes sense. They should play 4 games and keep switching teams.

 

[Knicks411]

Don't have enough players in the East to compete. Makes sense. They should play 4 games and keep switching teams.

Same number of players from the east still make it

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Same number of players from the east still make it

Numbers are equivalent, but the talent isn't the same.

Will Melo make it now?

 

[Knicks411]

Numbers are equivalent, but the talent isn't the same.

Will Melo make it now?

Yeah sorry I missed your point, I agree.

I don't think this helps or hurts Melo? The players still get selected to the team in the same way. I think it'll be really tough for him to make it

 

[Oráiste]

looks like Lydon is not going to play in Denver this year. 4 minutes at the very end of game 1, 3 minutes at the end last night. Denver doesn't have it's own G League affiliate, so he's going to get assigned to someone else's squad.

 

[OrangeDW]

Carmelo is feeling it. He’s got OKC’s first 10 points.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Yeah sorry I missed your point, I agree.

I don't think this helps or hurts Melo? The players still get selected to the team in the same way. I think it'll be really tough for him to make it

No worries, I worded it badly.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Carmelo is feeling it. He’s got OKC’s first 10 points.

I am so excited to watch OKC play this year. It's going to be fun.

 

[OrangeDW]

Pretty dirty and unnecessary play by Harden. Especially considering it’s preseason. Have to think Adams will remember that one.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Pretty dirty and unnecessary play by Harden. Especially considering it’s preseason. Have to think Adams will remember that one.

Looked to me like he was trying to save his own neck. Unfortunate, but not dirty.

 

[MikeSU02]

Are we going to start a new thread for 2017-18 season or just keep running with this one?

 

[OrangeDW]

Looked to me like he was trying to save his own neck. Unfortunate, but not dirty.

I don’t know...just seemed so extra. Like, he held on way too long or something. I would’ve been livid if someone did that to me.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Are we going to start a new thread for 2017-18 season or just keep running with this one?

If you start it, I will follow.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

If you start it, I will follow.

I second that emotion. Last season I started a thread on opening night, but I'm ready whenever all the NBA heads on here are ready to rock 'n' roll. Let the games begin! So looking forward to seeing LBJ holding the Walter Kennedy trophy in June -- I should live so long.