NBA 2015-2016 Season Thread

[VerbalPuke]

So the Pistons lose to the fucking Kings and Lakers.

And then beat the Cavs? I'll take that one. Hope they can get it together against shit teams, because I really want a playoff run this year. That and I'm paranoid about Andre Drummond re-signing here, although I don't think he leaves Detroit. We have his bird rights, he deferred signing this year  to allow us more cap space for next season (no idea how that works but sure?).

[gunnar hendershow]

Cap goes up dramatically next year so a lot of guys didn't re-sign just to take advantage of that.  It also allows them to better play the market and see where the best fit is as there will be a lot of dominoes falling based on what decisions Durant and James make.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Oklahoma, save your strenghts and just be in your best form possible when the play offs come! Let the Warriors peak now. Please....

[Monkey D. Lars]

McHale has been fired by the Rockets!

[Benjamin]

That's such a dumb move by the Rockets.

[livid]

5 hours ago, The Bolshevik Bastard said:

So the Pistons lose to the fucking Kings and Lakers.

And then beat the Cavs? I'll take that one. Hope they can get it together against shit teams, because I really want a playoff run this year. That and I'm paranoid about Andre Drummond re-signing here, although I don't think he leaves Detroit. We have his bird rights, he deferred signing this year  to allow us more cap space for next season (no idea how that works but sure?).

What damshow said but also, his caphold (each FA has a number held on the books unless the team renounces their rights to the player) would be significantly lower than whatever his salary would be on an extension, allowing them the room to sign someone and then he can sign after that. He's a restricted free agent anyways so they would have the ability to match any offer he got. 

12 minutes ago, Lars Elric said:

McHale has been fired by the Rockets!

This is so odd. 4-7 isn't exactly a disaster and they went to the WCF last year. Maybe he and Harden just don't get along? 

[Monkey D. Lars]

What I quickly read was that the even if McHale called a defensive play they would run something completely else. He had no control over the locker room anymore. And Harden never plays defense so yeah. He didn't like those plays I guess...

[JasonM]

Harden is easily the worst defender in the entire league right now, and that's not even coming from my biased Dallas Mavericks supporting side... He's just non-existent on defense and it'd be less bad if he actually tried, but he just plain does not put in any effort on defense at all, shockingly so...

Even in a league where the likes of Melo play, Harden is the most infuriating player to watch on both ends of the court. He'll score like it's nothing on one end, and then give up double that point tally on the other end.

I'm actually shocked McHale held on that long with the Rockets, because he's a great coach but any team would suffer if you're playing 4 on 5 on defense...

[Quom]

He really isn't a great coach :/

[Monkey D. Lars]

But let's be honest guys.....The BasedGod Curse is what really got McHale fired. Never sign off on the Harden bobblehead heads doing the Lil B cooking dance.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2590764-james-hardens-style-of-play-personality-reportedly-frustrating-rockets-players

 

Rockets aren't happy with Harden atm.

[Quom]

8 hours ago, The Bolshevik Bastard said:

So the Pistons lose to the fucking Kings and Lakers.

And then beat the Cavs? I'll take that one. Hope they can get it together against shit teams, because I really want a playoff run this year. That and I'm paranoid about Andre Drummond re-signing here, although I don't think he leaves Detroit. We have his bird rights, he deferred signing this year  to allow us more cap space for next season (no idea how that works but sure?).

To put it basically: You can exceed the cap to sign your own players you have the bird rights to (how the Cavs have such a massive tax bill), Once you are over this you can't spend any cash on free agents (just the mid-level exception and minimum contracts).

So instead of Drummond taking up $21 million in cap space this off-season there will instead just be an $8 million cap hold (since they have his rights until they re-sign him or he signs elsewhere) so basically it gives them an extra $13 million to spend on other players before re-signing him. 

[Ace]

On 11/10/2015, 3:16:38, Plubby said:

OK, so no team can truly go 82-0 because "no team wins every game" but how does Golden State lose a game? :S

Anyone? Anyone?

[Plubby]

Oh fuck off they won that game. No. No way.

[Ace]

122 - 115. I was watching Grant Gustin lose his shit on Twitter as it wound down. Was hilarious.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I just can't wait for the Westbrook - Curry matchup in february. Great comeback win for the Warriors. 

[VerbalPuke]

@Quom

Why the fuck is Tayshaun Prince starting? It's like I look at the Wolves starting five and I'm like "Wiggins, Towns, Rubio...great young core of starters...and oh Prince and Garnett". Garnet I sort of get because of his history, but Tayshaun has been washed up for years.

[Plubby]

The Knicks fucking RULE~!

[Benjamin]

So all 3 times my local channel has broadcasted a Spurs game, they've lost. I feel like the basketball gods are trying to get me to not watch a game I really want to watch 

[Quom]

2 hours ago, The Bolshevik Bastard said:

@Quom

Why the fuck is Tayshaun Prince starting? It's like I look at the Wolves starting five and I'm like "Wiggins, Towns, Rubio...great young core of starters...and oh Prince and Garnett". Garnet I sort of get because of his history, but Tayshaun has been washed up for years.

Have a look at their on/off numbers, they're very, very, very surprising (or at least were the last time I checked). Despite not racking up any stats we're actually performing much better with them on the court. Mainly because Zach/Martin/Shabazz can't defend at the wing and Dieng and Payne can't defend in the post, Bjelica is super solid though when he isn't travelling and isn't guarding away from the rim (he does that thing loads of rookie bigs do where they stand too far to the side when trying to force someone to drive baseline or middle, realise their mistake and give a stupid blocking/reaching foul). 

At the moment we're in a weird position. KAT, Wiggins and Rubio are all ready to win right now. Then you have the 3 old guys that are running on fumes (Prince, Miller, Garnett) but can still help everyone else despite not being able to do much for themselves and still know where they are meant to be on defence and will still run a set on offence (our young guys just give up the second the play is disrupted and play street-ball), then you have all the fucking projects that will look like all-stars one night and fuck us right over the next. 

I actually like our set-up. I like the idea that Garnett/Prince/Miller are able to teach our young guys, because it's hard to argue with someone that's proving that they still know how to help the team. I think it's going to help keep guys like Shabazz and LaVine humble; they can have a night where they get high stats and Prince can point to the box-score and show them that dropping 15+ doesn't help the team if the guy they're meant to be guarding drops 20+ (or if they're hogging the ball/taking Kobe shots/not running the offense).

Basically we have a lot of young guys that can super easily get high stats whilst at the same time costing us games. The old farts are doing the opposite, they get fuck all stats but we generally outplay the other team when they're on the court.

[JasonM]

I don't know what's in that Dallas water, but they gotta keep drinking it like champagne. Good god this team is flowing in a crazy way.

D-Will is everything we wanted him to be and nothing we feared him to be, and he's 100% from the charity stripe!
Dirk is 2nd in the league in 3pt percentage, +90% from the stripe, 53% from the field (going for that 50-40-90) and second only to Steph Curry in TS%, and 10th in offensive rating.
Zaza has gotten his 7th double-double of the season, and he's pure heart and workrate on the court. I take back every word of doubt I spoke of the guy.
Powell is a true backup bigman in a Carlisle system, gets great rebound totals and is 10+ with a high field goal %, pretty much everything you can expect from a guy like him.

And with that group of misfits and rag-tag emergency signing, the Mavericks are 3rd in the West behind only the unstoppable Warriors and the timeless Spurs.
If we reach the playoffs, Carlisle is deserving of a Coach of the Year award because it doesn't matter what kind of team Cuban signs together, he'll make it work and he'll turn it into a .500 team.

Only negatives are Wesley Matthews and Chandler Parsons clearly being rusty after their injuries, but I'm sure that once those two get going that the team will be force to be reckoned with, the chemistry is just too great to not have it turn into a 50 win season barring injury problems.
 

What makes it all better is that every (but two) ESPN pundit had pegged the Mavs to go LAST in the west, yes last behind the Lakers, Kings, and Wolves!

Edited November 21, 2015 by Jasonmufc