NBA 2014/15 Season Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

Wade at this point is a secondary player on a good team, so him coming off the bench for Cleveland is the perfect situation for him. But that said I don't think they should direct their attention there when they could take Wade's production and instead get 3 players off the bench who will have even higher production. They address more needs and, again, get better overall production.

My initial expectation was, since money is the issue with Miami, he'd be content riding out the twilight of his career with whoever would pay him the most.

[Benjamin]

I still think it's crazy that Curry beat all 4 other members of the All-NBA 1st Team this season. What's the chances of that ever happening, and of ever happening again?

[Tyrone]

New Clippers unis and logo

Edited June 18, 2015 by Tyrone

[Maxx]

Woof.

[VerbalPuke]

I still think it's crazy that Curry beat all 4 other members of the All-NBA 1st Team this season. What's the chances of that ever happening, and of ever happening again?

That is crazy, he was a high lottery pick, but was there any reason to think he would become top three player in the league good? The more I see stats like this, I am inclined to agree wih damshow about the Warriors being an all-time great team.

[Benjamin]

New Clippers unis and logo

I really, really like that.

[Quom]

Look up like 2 posts.

I like the uniforms but hate the logo. 'Lets cram all the letters inside a basketball, that's a unique thing to do!'

[LL!]

I love how the CLIPPERS logo looks on the white one, but hate the one on the red. If both used the same CLIPPERS logo, the red would look fantastic.

[gunnar hendershow]

Their old logo looked so much like they were a Lakers-lite. That said I loved the actual script on the unis. New logo sucks, I do like the home uniforms though.

Plus they're called the Clippers, so putting some sort of seafaring-themed aspect into the logo wouldn't hurt.

[gunnar hendershow]

New Sixers uniforms are great. So basically the Bucks and Sixers got awesome uniforms and the Clippers didn't.

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/6/18/8810211/philadelphia-76ers-unveil-glorious-new-uniforms

[Benjamin]

I don't get the hate for the Clippers jerseys and logo. I think they're really nice.

[DMN in the House]

I still think it's crazy that Curry beat all 4 other members of the All-NBA 1st Team this season. What's the chances of that ever happening, and of ever happening again?

That is crazy, he was a high lottery pick, but was there any reason to think he would become top three player in the league good? The more I see stats like this, I am inclined to agree wih damshow about the Warriors being an all-time great team.

They're good, but how about they win another championship or two before we start comparing them to some of the all-time great teams.

[Benjamin]

I always think of teams like that on a season-by-season basis. They've had like the third best season of all time, in arguably the toughest conference in history. I think the 2014-15 GSW deserve to be considered among the best of all time.

[VerbalPuke]

Yeah, I'm going purely on a season to season basis rather than considering them as a dynasty.

[Meacon Keaton]

99/00 Lakers, 95/96 Bulls, 85/86 Celtics would likely not have lost one, let alone two games to LeBron and the bench squad. That's how I look at it. I'm not taking anything away from this Golden State team. They were the best all year and proved it in the playoffs. But that's about as far as I can go with it.

[Red Devil-Taker316]

I definitely disagree about the 95-96 Bulls. I understand about 72-10 and 15-3 in the playoffs and all, but that team is slightly overrated (next year's squad is better imo with Brian Williams addition). The 96 Sonics, another team who's record is slightly inflated due to expansion, gave the Bulls trouble overall. A goodish but not the best Knicks team also took a game from Chicago in the playoffs. LeBron could definitely take one.

I also disagree with the 2001 Lakers part. Iverson went bonkers in Game 1 to win in LA, so I think LeBron going bonkers is definitely one win.

The only teams I think LeBron struggles to get one win in is against a team like the 94 Rockets or 99 Spurs. LeBron getting through the middle with Hakeem or the Duncan-Robinson combo in there? And Hakeem and Duncan having their way with someone like Tristan Thompson? That feels like a more likely sweep.

[Meacon Keaton]

What about the 2007 Spurs that swept that years Cavaliers?

That was a, granted eight years younger, LeBron with an All-Bench crew that year.

The argument of scheduling and expansion can sway any argument. For instance, the Lakers were about as bad as an expansion team this year. That definitely helped Golden State, considering they were in the same division.

You can look at statistics and records, but when I watched the Warriors this year, not once did I think "I'm watching one of the greatest teams in history". Again, not taking away anything they did this year. I just do not and did not see it from watching them.

[DMN in the House]

I definitely disagree about the 95-96 Bulls. I understand about 72-10 and 15-3 in the playoffs and all, but that team is slightly overrated (next year's squad is better imo with Brian Williams addition). The 96 Sonics, another team who's record is slightly inflated due to expansion, gave the Bulls trouble overall. A goodish but not the best Knicks team also took a game from Chicago in the playoffs. LeBron could definitely take one.

I also disagree with the 2001 Lakers part. Iverson went bonkers in Game 1 to win in LA, so I think LeBron going bonkers is definitely one win.

The only teams I think LeBron struggles to get one win in is against a team like the 94 Rockets or 99 Spurs. LeBron getting through the middle with Hakeem or the Duncan-Robinson combo in there? And Hakeem and Duncan having their way with someone like Tristan Thompson? That feels like a more likely sweep.

Shaq in the middle is as good, or better, than Hakeem. That Laker team lost one game in the playoffs, and it was because one of the most prolific scorers on league history went off. Yeah, LeBron can go off too, but not the way Iverson did, they're wired differently. LeBron would try to get his teammates involved and it would cost them.

That Laker team would likely sweep this Warrior team, imo. They have absolutely no answer for Shaq.

[gunnar hendershow]

I prefer to use statistics and records to rate teams as opposed to the few games of the year I watched of theirs in their entirety. The eyeball test in basketball especially is really misleading, especially in regards to defense. It's not like the Warriors couldn't defend LeBron for example, they made him take impossible shots that he made. It's like when Jordan went off for 63 against the 85-86 Celtics, nobody has ever used it as an example for that Boston team not being an all-time great. You have to look at that total picture from November to June, and again the Warriors manhandled everyone and once they figured out how to force Cleveland into a shootout they averaged above their regular season point differential (+10) for the last 3 games of the series (+14). Only eight teams have ever finished with a point differential of +10, and again the Warriors did this against a remarkably deep conference.

Basketball's inherently a sport where the games look a lot closer than the teams are. I watched awful Wizards teams for years where they would lose by "only" 7-8 points a lot of the time. On a bad team, a great player can make up most of those points when they're playing at their absolute best. It's how the 2006-07 Cavaliers reached the Finals, or the 1980's Bulls teams managed to win playoff series, or how the 00-01 Sixers won a game against the Lakers. Great players on their best day will help the inferior team win, but even at their best they can't do it for 4 out of 7 without a team that matches up well against their opponents.

[Maxx]

I think we can all agree the Dream Team was the best team.