NBA Regular Season 14/15

Dublin Red Devil

No thread up yet for the new season?

Here we go

For Forks Sake

Here's my prediction, The Pacers will be proud owners of a lottery pick in 9 months time.

shamrock55

Im hoping the raptors can take their very good offseason form into the regular season, no reason they wont

Dublin Red Devil

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Here's my prediction, The Pacers will be proud owners of a lottery pick in 9 months time.

I don't expect much from my Pacers this season. Have to agree, I don't think they will make the playoffs. The loss of George and Lance is too much to take.

My 8 in the East (No particular order)

Bulls
Cavs
Hornets
Nets
Raptors
Heat
Wizards
Detroit

buyer95

Prediction times lads.

Playoff teams:

East: 1) Cavs 2) Bulls 3) Wizards 4) Raptors 5) Hawks 6) Charlotte Hornets 7) Knicks 8) Heat( I really wanted to omit the Heat here, that pick comes down to how much you trust Bosh's ability to get back to his Toronto days.I think that Stan could find a way to get Detroit into the playoffs also.)

West 1) Spurs 2) Clippers 3) Grizzlies 4)OKC 5) Warriors 6) Rockets 7) Mavs 8) Trail Blazers (Suns won't be far away. It's just hard to see any of last years teams slipping out of the playoffs. The Blazers are the most likely to have a regression year imo, and I have a sneaky feeling about the Pelicans. Davis could possible drag his team kicking and screaming into the 8th spot.

Surprise team (good): Pelicans

Flop team: Heat

Champions: Spurs over Cavs

MVP LeBron James
Rookie of the Year: Jabari Parker
Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Davis
Most Improve Player Bradley Beal
6th man: Taj Gibson
Breakout Player: Iman Shumpert
Coach of the year: David Joerger

NufcNavan

I wouldn't sleep on the Heat just yet. With Bosh, Deng and Wade they could still be a 4 or 5 seed in the East. It all depends on how healthy Wade stays IMO.

D2D

Less than 24 hours to tip off in the 2014/15 Regualr Season so here's my predictions:

Playoff teams:

East:
1) Bulls 2) Cavs 3) Raptors 4) Wizards 5) Hornets 6) Heat 7) Hawks 8) Knicks

I've given the Bulls #1 as I think they've the best overall squad in the East. I've surprised myself with the Cavs at #2 but it'll take a while for the Cavs to gel/get used to Blatt's playbook. Raptors and Wizards will battle over the 3-4 spots. Hornets and Heat will make the playoffs (at 5 and 6), Hawks should make the playoffs provided they literally don't shoot themselves in the foot. Going for the Knicks just clinching the 8 spot.

West:
1) Spurs 2) Clippers 3) OKC 4) Warriors 5) Rockets 6) Trail Blazers 7) Grizzlies 8) Mavs

Same top 3 teams as last year's playoff picture in the Spurs/Clippers/Thunder. Think Golden State will have a great season under Steve Kerr with the Rockets and Blazers chasing them. The final 2 teams are tough. I've gone with the Grit and Grind of Memphis and the Mavs closing out the West.

MVP - LeBron James - Obvious choice

Rookie of the Year - Jabari Parker - Most NBA ready player in this class

Defensive Player of the Year - Joakim Noah

Most Improved Player - Bradley Beal

6th man of the year - Taj Gibson

Breakout Player - Anthony Davis

Coach of the year - Tom Thibodeau

Surprise team (good):Sacramento Kings - IT'S BOOGIE'S TIME!!!!

League Pass team - Timberwolves - If you want to see a young team throwing dunks down in transition without caring about defence, I present the 2014-15 Timberwolves. They're going to be a really fun team to watch, even if you know they're probably gonna lose.

Flop team - Pacers - 1 realistic choice here and it's due to a horrible injury. A healthy Paul George see them in the Playoff picture. A team with no PG13/Lance Stephenson sees the same team in a state of flux/disarray

and finally.............

Champions: Spurs over Bulls in 6 - Yep, I see a 6th (and maybe final ring) for the Spurs, beating Chi Town 4-2

buyer95

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Less than 24 hours to tip off in the 2014/15 Regualr Season so here's my predictions:

Playoff teams:

East:
1) Bulls 2) Cavs 3) Raptors 4) Wizards 5) Hornets 6) Heat 7) Hawks 8) Knicks

I've given the Bulls #1 as I think they've the best overall squad in the East. I've surprised myself with the Cavs at #2 but it'll take a while for the Cavs to gel/get used to Blatt's playbook. Raptors and Wizards will battle over the 3-4 spots. Hornets and Heat will make the playoffs (at 5 and 6), Hawks should make the playoffs provided they literally don't shoot themselves in the foot. Going for the Knicks just clinching the 8 spot.

West:
1) Spurs 2) Clippers 3) OKC 4) Warriors 5) Rockets 6) Trail Blazers 7) Grizzlies 8) Mavs

Same top 3 teams as last year's playoff picture in the Spurs/Clippers/Thunder. Think Golden State will have a great season under Steve Kerr with the Rockets and Blazers chasing them. The final 2 teams are tough. I've gone with the Grit and Grind of Memphis and the Mavs closing out the West.

MVP - LeBron James - Obvious choice

Rookie of the Year - Jabari Parker - Most NBA ready player in this class

Defensive Player of the Year - Joakim Noah

Most Improved Player - Bradley Beal

6th man of the year - Taj Gibson

Breakout Player - Anthony Davis

Coach of the year - Tom Thibodeau

Surprise team (good):Sacramento Kings - IT'S BOOGIE'S TIME!!!!

League Pass team - Timberwolves - If you want to see a young team throwing dunks down in transition without caring about defence, I present the 2014-15 Timberwolves. They're going to be a really fun team to watch, even if you know they're probably gonna lose.

Flop team - Pacers - 1 realistic choice here and it's due to a horrible injury. A healthy Paul George see them in the Playoff picture. A team with no PG13/Lance Stephenson sees the same team in a state of flux/disarray

and finally.............

Champions: Spurs over Bulls in 6 - Yep, I see a 6th (and maybe final ring) for the Spurs, beating Chi Town 4-2

I'd agree with a lot of that, however I don't think Davis could be considered for break out player. I picked him for that last year and he became an all star, as well as leading the league in blocked shots. Imo he has proved himself as a top 10 or 12 player in this league. Shumpert, my pick, on the other hand has proven nothing so far, but I think that Fisher will get the best out of him

PizzamanIRL

One benefit of the clocks going back is the games are on an hour earlier than usual for us

GoldFour4

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

One benefit of the clocks going back is the games are on an hour earlier than usual for us

Yeah that's a major advantage alright! Looking forward to seeing the two early games tonight

PizzamanIRL

A nice little League Pass free trial to kick the season off

http://watch.nba.com/nba/subscribe?utm_source=nba&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=nbamain&utm_campaign=freetrial

padraig_f

2 hours til the start of the season, looking forward to it. Good place to start in Madison Square Garden. No Jimmy, out 2-4 weeks Hopefully won't miss him tonight, but will be a big loss on Friday when we play the Cavs. He was looking great in the pre-season.

Itssoeasy

Rondo starts for the celtics tonight and no time restrictions. The fact our clocks went back and the us hasn't yet is class.

PizzamanIRL

Julius Randle out for the season. One game in and there's already 2 players out for the season for the Lakers.

padraig_f

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Julius Randle out for the season. One game in and there's already 2 players out for the season for the Lakers.

That's rough. Was gonna be a losing season anyway, but at least you'd like to watch the promising young rookie. Had heard good things about him.

padraig_f

Glamour tie of the night

nerd69

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Rondo starts for the celtics tonight and no time restrictions. The fact our clocks went back and the us hasn't yet is class.

woo hop celtics basketball is back were going to suck but I'm actually kind of excited about this season

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

Julius Randle out for the season. One game in and there's already 2 players out for the season for the Lakers.

thats terrible news i was looking forwards to seeing him play. could work out better for the lakers though get another high lottery pick could be great if they grab a jahlil okafor or a caulie-stein to go with randel and then use being the lakers to grab a few free agents they could be back competing pretty soon particularly after kobes contract ends the summer after next

nerd69

I know its only the first game of the season and brook Lopez is missing but the nets look absolutly terrible

shamrock55

Bloody bucks cost me a 200euro accum :mad:

Anyway at least the raps won

GoldFour4

I really like the Hornets this year. They have a really energetic young team and their court and jerseys are very appealing on the eye too.

Kemba came up big last night, hitting the shot to bring it to OT then hitting the game winner.

I'm looking forward to watching some of the condensed games later today. The Phoenix game will be one, the Minny game another, I'll see what else pops up. There was a lot of one sided games last night.

padraig_f

malistheman wrote: »

I really like the Hornets this year. They have a really energetic young team and their court and jerseys are very appealing on the eye too.

Thought their fans were great in last year's playoffs. Now they've got a half-decent team, the original Hornets brand back, there could be a good buzz about the team alright (didn't mean that pun).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SbW6ApIXFI

padraig_f

Good win, the starters didn't play well, bit of early season rust, but ominously for the Knicks led 24-20 after 1. Then the bench came out and torched them, Taj Gibson couldn't miss (10-12), Aaron Brooks played really well in the backup PG spot.

Great to see McDermott & Mirotic getting early playing time, and they did well, both making 3s.

That was the most interesting thing about this game, the minutes rotation, Thibs only played Rose & Noah 20 mins, and they didn't play at all in the 4th quarter. That's been a frequent criticism of Thibs, that he'd play the starters in the 4th quarter in blowouts, didn't happen last night. So maybe a change of approach there.

Not getting over-excited about the win, the Knicks were bad, really bad. But still very pleasing to see a lot of guys play well and the depth of the team. Will be a tougher test on Friday against the Cavs.

nerd69

its worth noteing that kemba got the winning score in overtime as well he was clutch as ****.


with regards the celtics game

it was nice to see gino again

rondo played a great game really looked back to his best he had a hop in his step and looked far more aggressive than he has in the past taking shots himself and going to the hoop himself at times rondo can be deadly when people can't give him 5 feet of cushion.

celtics struggled to rebound when sullenger was off the floor having said this kelly olynik seems important to the offence he handles the ball like a guard and can shoot a decent 3 so possibly a necessary evil having him in there on defense.

marcus thornton has looked great all preseason and he looked good again yesterday himself and turner can get us points off the bench and tornton played good defense as well yesterday.

marcus smart is going to be a stud on the defensive end he was arguably the best defensive player in the game and avery and green are damn good defenders. he looked better last night than what i saw of wiggins and parker.he also looked good going forward all be it against a terrible defense

the nets looked terrible last night its worth keeping in mind livingston and pierce where vital to there run in the second half of last season and where huge losses. its only the first game of the season but they where by far the worst team iv watched so far.

D2D

Thought opening night on Tuesday was a little flat. Spurs/Mavs was a great game but it was surrounded by a Magic team that just couldn't sink a shot and a Lakers/Rockets game that no-one really cared about after Randle's horrible injury

The Hornets/Bucks game last night was a really good game. As Mal said, the Hornets are defiantly a team to keep an eye on this season. Kemba came up big in when it counted.

After the fun summer we've had, we start our season at The Q against the Knicks at midnight tonight (think it's on BT as well).

NufcNavan

I know it was against the Sixers but a win is a win for the Pacers, especially considering the line up we have out at the moment. To beat anyone with that line up by double figures is impressive.

D2D

NufcNavan wrote: »

I know it was against the Sixers but a win is a win for the Pacers, especially considering the line up we have out at the moment. To beat anyone with that line up by double figures is impressive.

Turnovers really killed ye early on (think it was something like 7 in the first 8 mins) but ye did well to get back into the game and eventually pull away, even if it was the Sixers. The Grizz for ye tomorrow night will be interesting to watch

NufcNavan

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Turnovers really killed ye early on (think it was something like 7 in the first 8 mins) but ye did well to get back into the game and eventually pull away, even if it was the Sixers. The Grizz for ye tomorrow night will be interesting to watch

Yeah would expect them to win like. We're wafer thin at the moment with Hill, West and CJ Watson out.

NufcNavan

Honestly, what is Kobe doing? This is depressing. He's still very good, but he could be a great 6th man for a title team. This is just rough to watch. 11/26 for 31 points? I mean if he's just in it for the scoring record at this point, then I guess he is in the right spot, but that team is going to struggle to win 20 games and he is going to shoot an awful percentage.

I think he could still easily be a top 3ish player on a title contending team, but his issue is that he still wants to be the very best player on any team that he's on. I always thought that running down MJ for a 6th ring was the main thing that mattered to him, but it seems like money and points are more important now.

nerd69

NufcNavan wrote: »

I know it was against the Sixers but a win is a win for the Pacers, especially considering the line up we have out at the moment. To beat anyone with that line up by double figures is impressive.

tbh everyone should be beating that 6ers team by double figures they are possibly the worst team iv ever seen play in the nba they have players starting that wouldn't make other teams

NufcNavan wrote: »

Honestly, what is Kobe doing? This is depressing. He's still very good, but he could be a great 6th man for a title team. This is just rough to watch. 11/26 for 31 points? I mean if he's just in it for the scoring record at this point, then I guess he is in the right spot, but that team is going to struggle to win 20 games and he is going to shoot an awful percentage.

I think he could still easily be a top 3ish player on a title contending team, but his issue is that he still wants to be the very best player on any team that he's on. I always thought that running down MJ for a 6th ring was the main thing that mattered to him, but it seems like money and points are more important now.

prides killed him to be fair a lot of whats causing it is what made him great in the first place

d'Oracle

The Bulls look Gooood.
There is a lot of space and movement from their bigs.

Reflecting on the Knicks I saw a play just there, ball brought up, an attack was made and broken up. Reset with the ball in Larkins hands at the wing. Someone else is in the corner. Delambert and Jason Smith are on the weak side

I'm looking for a guy to cut across and take strong side post, form the triangle, but....wait... WHERE THE HELL IS JR???

He isnt even in the half. He's already back on D, where he intends doing nothing.
Gets a great look at Rose finishing on the play. I swear to jeebus it will be a long ****ty season watching that Idiot play ball.

But like I said, the Bulls look goood.

D2D

Maybe they need one more 2 guard but the Bulls have the best squad this year, hands down. Don't think there really can be any argument about it tbh.