NBA Regular Season 2016-17

D2D

Pre-season games are officially done & there's 3 days to Tip-Off so welcome to the NBA Regular Season 2016-17 thread!

Can the Cavs repeat? Can Golden State, now with KD, go and make up for last years Finals? Just how good are the Celtics? Will Philly keep on trusting that progress?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvtKucdT-ok

Paully D

Honestly may as well fast forward to the Cavs v Warriors finals and save us all the time.

Warriors will have a much trickier path to the dance but Cleveland have absolutely no serious competition in the East so that will be another massacre.

sportsbook_12

Probably another Cavs vs Warriors in the finals but I still have hopes for OKC

GoldFour4

Can genuinely see the Warriors not making the finals in the West and being somehow upset by the Spurs.

D2D

Opening night is tonight! There's 3 games on the schedule. The banner raising/ring ceremony at The Q starts at around 11:30/12ish, followed by the Knicks@Cavs game, which tips at 12:30. Spurs/Warriors tips at 3:30 tonight. Both of these games are on BT Sport. Jazz@Blazers is also on tonight with a 3am tip off

GoldFour4

D2D wrote: »

Opening night is tonight! There's 3 games on the schedule. The banner raising/ring ceremony at The Q starts at around 11:30/12ish, followed by the Knicks@Cavs game, which tips at 12:30. Spurs/Warriors tips at 3:30 tonight. Both of these games are on BT Sport. Jazz@Blazers is also on tonight with a 3am tip off

Great stuff. For some reason I thought the season didn't begin until the 28th.

ButtersSuki

malistheman wrote: »

Can genuinely see the Warriors not making the finals in the West and being somehow upset by the Spurs.

Barring injury I can't see it. It's all ifs, buts and maybes until we see them play a large number of games, but on paper and what I've seen so far it will take an injury to stop them.

I can however see Boston beating the Cavs. They're strong in all 5 starting positions, have a deep bench, play both ends of the floor really well, have a better coach. Maybe it's my Boston bias but I have a strange feeling the Cavs will not have it so easy in the East this year. I think they'll be managing minutes with LeBron and Kyrie in particular with a view to having them rested come play offs time and that may impact their ability to have the 1 seed and home court in the East*.

An injury to anyone of the contender's starters changes everything. You don't even need to miss a game, be less than 100% and it impacts - look at Curry in the Finals.


MVP:
*It's also the reason I think LeBron won't be MVP this year as I think he won't play enough games or minutes to influence the voting enough.
Equally I think Curry's touches will be down this year as he seeks to facilitate Durant. KD could be MVP however as he'll have some big outbursts and a likely crazily efficient year (50/40/90** is on the cards again for him, as for Curry and Klay); however no-one (bar SA) manages minutes like GS so it will be interesting to see how that affects his voting. Curry in preseason was looking to pass more than shoot which says a lot about the ego and team-first mentality of the guy. I can't imagine any other superstar in the league willing to sacrifice like he appears to be doing to accommodate a new arrival.
Harden (if he plays like 2 seasons ago more than last) could win it by default with the dilution of the minutes of the others. He's likely a shoe-in for the scoring title as Houston will play like it's first to 150 wins.
I don't think Westbrook will win it as though his stats will likely be insane, OKC will be bad.

**Curry and Durant have done this. Klay almost did it last year and did it post All Star Break to season's end. With the additional spacing they will create with Durant's arrival it's on the cards for all 3, which would be insane if even 2 of them manage to do it.



Wanted to post my full predictions but haven't time, the weekend maybe.

Gregk961

ButtersSuki wrote: »

MVP:
*It's also the reason I think LeBron won't be MVP this year as I think he won't play enough games or minutes to influence the voting enough.
Equally I think Curry's touches will be down this year as he seeks to facilitate Durant. KD could be MVP however as he'll have some big outbursts and a likely crazily efficient year (50/40/90** is on the cards again for him, as for Curry and Klay); however no-one (bar SA) manages minutes like GS so it will be interesting to see how that affects his voting. Curry in preseason was looking to pass more than shoot which says a lot about the ego and team-first mentality of the guy. I can't imagine any other superstar in the league willing to sacrifice like he appears to be doing to accommodate a new arrival.
Harden (if he plays like 2 seasons ago more than last) could win it by default with the dilution of the minutes of the others. He's likely a shoe-in for the scoring title as Houston will play like it's first to 150 wins.
I don't think Westbrook will win it as though his stats will likely be insane, OKC will be be bad.

Cant see LeBron winning it, unless he actually goes out of his way to win it which would compromise his playoff hopes. Curry probably wont win 3 in a row and Durant is something of a hate figure at the moment.

I would say Its between Harden and Kwahi Leonard but id imagine San Antonio will be a far better team than the rockets so I really think Leonard had a great chance.

ButtersSuki

Gregk961 wrote: »

Cant see LeBron winning it, unless he actually goes out of his way to win it which would compromise his playoff hopes. Curry probably wont win 3 in a row and Durant is something of a hate figure at the moment.

I would say Its between Harden and Kwahi Leonard but id imagine San Antonio will be a far better team than the rockets so I really think Leonard had a great chance.

I don't see Kwahi as being enough of a "star" (in publicity terms) for the NBA MVP. As much as purists love him (and I'd include myself in that) for his play on both ends of the court, it's usually offense that wins that award. Harden could easily be a 30 and 8 guy this year. He plays no defense, but voters don't really care too much about that.

If I was starting my own team tomorrow I'd take Kwahi over Harden, but that's not the question.

The reality is LeBron, KD and Curry are better MVP candidates than either Kwahi or Harden, but I think for the reasons I gave earlier (primarily minutes based) they may not win it this year.

More often than not it goes to the best player on the best team (Harden is the best player but the Rockets will not be the best team), but neither will Kwahi. So you could argue it therefore will be LeBron or KD (I'm removing Curry as I think he'll morph into a facilitator and option 2 or 3 as required from a scoring perspective on offense). Bizarrely KD could have a much better season statistically and efficiently than his MVP season and not win it.

NufcNavan

Due to work commitments I haven't followed much of the preseason nor have caught up with the buzz of its return. I know the Pacers have looked ok going into the season but that's about it.

GoldFour4

Predictions time! If people want to use the same categories as here or add to them! Then I'll put them all into an excel sheet and we can keep track of the results at the end of the year.

See post below

GoldFour4

NBA CHAMPIONS SPURS
EASTERN CHAMPIONS CAVS
WESTERN CHAMPIONS SPURS
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER LBJ
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR KRIS DUNN
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR LBJ
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER DEVIN BOOKER
6TH MAN OF THE YEAR BRANDON KNIGHT
COACH OF THE YEAR BRAD STEVENS
LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING RUSSELL WESTBROOK
FIRST COACH FIRED DWAYNE CASEY
WORST OVERALL RECORD NETS
PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME JAMES HARDEN

buyer95

NBA CHAMPIONS Warriors

EASTERN CHAMPIONS Cavs

WESTERN CHAMPIONS Warriors

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER LeBron James

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Joel Embiid

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: : DeAndre Jordan

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER Jabari Parker

6TH MAN OF THE YEAR Brandon Jennings

COACH OF THE YEAR Tom Thibodeau

LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING Russell Westbrook

FIRST COACH FIRED Kenny Atkinson

Comeback Player of the Year Dante Exum

WORST OVERALL RECORD Nets

PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME Russell Westbrook

LuckyLloyd

NBA CHAMPIONS WARRIORS
EASTERN CHAMPIONS CAVS
WESTERN CHAMPIONS WARRIORS
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER HARDEN
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR BUDDY
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR LEONARD
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER PORZINGIS
6TH MAN OF THE YEAR DWAYNE WADE
COACH OF THE YEAR BRAD STEVENS
LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING RUSSELL WESTBROOK
FIRST COACH FIRED NO CLUE!
WORST OVERALL RECORD STILL THINK PHILLY SUCK
PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME JAMES HARDEN

Cool thing to do. Let us NBA!!

brady23

Gonna pick some semi long shots

EASTERN CHAMPIONS Cavs

WESTERN CHAMPIONS Warriors

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Anthony Davis

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR Dario Saric

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: : Michael Kidd Gilchrist

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER jEREMY Lin

6TH MAN OF THE YEAR Kenneth Faried

COACH OF THE YEAR Tom Thibodeau

LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING Russell Westbrook

FIRST COACH FIRED Fred Hoiberg

Comeback Player of the Year Michael Beasley

WORST OVERALL RECORD 76ERS

PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME Russell Westbrook

ButtersSuki

NBA CHAMPIONS GSW
EASTERN CHAMPIONS BOSTON (prob Cavs but f*ck it, to be different!)
WESTERN CHAMPIONS GSW
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER DURANT
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR JOEL EMBIID (for the craic)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR KWAHI
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER D'ANGELO RUSSELL
6TH MAN OF THE YEAR IGUADOLA
COACH OF THE YEAR BRAD STEVENS
LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING HARDEN
FIRST COACH FIRED BRETT BROWN
WORST OVERALL RECORD NETS
PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME HARDEN


Another interesting(ish) stat I found out via a podcast today......

Memphis (driven by an insane injury list) played an all time league record 28 different players last year. Considering they still made the playoffs that's some achievement.

brady23

Lebron flirting with a triple double only 16 minutes played so far. Outside of a few turnovers Rose looks pretty decent but I think the fear of Porzingis being the one to suffer looks very possible

Finished off watching this game and Porzingis just looked like the third option, pick and pop stuff, give it to him with 6 seconds left if Melo or D.Rose can't get theirs.
Rose, like I said looked decent first half, a few nice baskets with a semi blow by for a floater or tough lay up, seemed to struggle in second half though. Trying the same shots but 2 bricks, an airball and just not getting to his spots. Jumper doesn't look any better. I always thought it looked semi awkward no real flow.
Noah's defensive positioning was great, a couole of charges and forced TO but that was about it

Carcharodon

Warriors blown out and Iam actually happy about it, I think they need to struggle a little, find their groove and hopefully click for playoffs rather than setting records and stumbling through playoffs and choking in finals.

Long term concerns are lack of rebounding, it's going to be a problem on both sides of the floor, bogut not being there is evident but Iam sure they will adapt. Durant looked pretty good, the team played pretty poorly though, Spurs are the Spurs, best coached team in NBA.

LuckyLloyd

brady23 wrote: »

Lebron flirting with a triple double only 16 minutes played so far. Outside of a few turnovers Rose looks pretty decent but I think the fear of Porzingis being the one to suffer looks very possible

The King with 14 assists as part of a triple double to start the season.

The Knicks managed a 15 - 2 run at one point in the second quarter and it was tight at half time. They just had no answer for the Cavs in the second half. Porzingis still got his last night a little bit but not having Rose for preseason showed - they have kinks to work through.

Golden State getting walloped was fun. Great to be back!

LuckyLloyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRkjQupb9UE

GoldFour4

Watched the highlights of Spurs @ GSW on the way to work this morning. Kawhi was sensational - he'll be well in the running for MVP if he can keep up that sort of performance.

Kal El

NBA CHAMPIONS: GSW
EASTERN CHAMPIONS: Raptors
WESTERN CHAMPIONS: GSW
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Carmelo :pac: or Westbrook
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Brandon Ingram
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Leonard
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: KP can see the big man taking a massive step
6TH MAN OF THE YEAR: Kanter(Although I think they will trade him)
COACH OF THE YEAR: BRAD STEVENS
LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING: Westbrook
FIRST COACH FIRED: Alvin Gentry
WORST OVERALL RECORD: NETS
PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME: Westbrook

K.O.Kiki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRkjQupb9UE

If he had taken out Steph Curry's foot in Game 1... fuuuuuuu

ButtersSuki

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

If he had taken out Steph Curry's foot in Game 1... fuuuuuuu

Thought the same thing when I saw it first.

brady23

I think I'm going to watch the Twolves and then the Lakers primiarly today but definitely switch across to the Bucks game too.
I really would like to see Ricky Rubio improve from an offensive point of view. I think he's an elite defender, one of the best defensive PG's in the league but doesn't get as much credit as he deserves because of his offensive shortcomings.
He ranked 2nd in DRPM among PGs and 5th in overall RPM that's better than Lillard, Wall, Irving, Conley etc and all the guys above him are All-Stars/MVP candidates. He ranks 15th in PER but his usage is way lower than all those above him except one.
I think finding a semi reliable jumper and finishing better at the rim would make a huge difference to his game but I just wonder will Thibs even be bothered to try and make him a better scorer or will he just continue on the same road and let Towns, Wiggins etc flourish offensively

mixery

NBA CHAMPIONS: Spurs
EASTERN CHAMPIONS: Cavaliers
WESTERN CHAMPIONS: Spurs
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Harden
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Buddy Hield
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kawhi (y'all need to learn how to spell his name correctly)
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Devin Booker
6TH MAN OF THE YEAR: Crawford
COACH OF THE YEAR: Stevens
LEAGUE LEADER IN SCORING: Harden
FIRST COACH FIRED: Brett Brown
WORST OVERALL RECORD: 76ers
PLAYER TO SCORE THE MOST POINTS IN A GAME: Lillard

buyer95

Few people have picked the 76ers to have the worst record, and Brown to be fired first. Honestly can see neither of those things hapenning. The league forced Philly's hand to get serious about putting together a credible team and hoisted Bryan Colangelo on them as GM. They will be a lot better than the last few years. Look for them to trade a guard at some stage, adding Saric and Embiid to an already packed front court makes that almost a cert.

This team has talent though, and Brett can coach. Obviously not playoff talent, but they are going to try and win this year. Wouldn't be surprised to see them sniff 30 wins.

ButtersSuki

buyer95 wrote: »

Few people have picked the 76ers to have the worst record, and Brown to be fired first. Honestly can see neither of those things hapenning. The league forced Philly's hand to get serious about putting together a credible team and hoisted Bryan Colangelo on them as GM. They will be a lot better than the last few years. Look for them to trade a guard at some stage, adding Saric and Embiid to an already packed front court makes that almost a cert.

This team has talent though, and Brett can coach. Obviously not playoff talent, but they are going to try and win this year. Wouldn't be surprised to see them sniff 30 wins.

I see your logic and if Simmons was fit I'd agree fully. However, now that he's out half the season at least the odds are they'll sit him for the year and tank again. As for Brett, he wasn't Colangelo's appointment so that I think makes him hugely vulnerable.

Kal El

buyer95 wrote: »

Few people have picked the 76ers to have the worst record, and Brown to be fired first. Honestly can see neither of those things hapenning. The league forced Philly's hand to get serious about putting together a credible team and hoisted Bryan Colangelo on them as GM. They will be a lot better than the last few years. Look for them to trade a guard at some stage, adding Saric and Embiid to an already packed front court makes that almost a cert.

This team has talent though, and Brett can coach. Obviously not playoff talent, but they are going to try and win this year. Wouldn't be surprised to see them sniff 30 wins.

I can see them going for Rubio, maybe trading Noel. Wolves pretty stacked at pg, I think KAT and Noel would suit old Tom.

ButtersSuki

Anthony Davis looks like he's recovered from his injury....

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Anthony Davis looks like he's recovered from his injury....

Unbelievable, hopefully he stays injury free, he could be a future hall of famer. Saw him play two years ago, he is extremely talented and nearly unstoppable when on form

brady23

No games of any particular interest today, maybe Celtics/Bulls.
Although I think the soap opera in Chicago this year will be interesting. I think it'll be closer than most analysts think but I don't see the Bulls making the playoffs.
A team of big personalities with declining abilities and no one in the starting 5 who can truly space the floor.
Their 2nd unit will be better than last year I think, maybe McDermott becomes 2014 Kyle Korver, Mirotic and Portis make a leap. I think if McDermott does make the leap then bringing D.Wade off the bench would be best but that's never going to happen, they need to hope they get 40 wins and that's enough for the 8th spot

buyer95

brady23 wrote: »

No games of any particular interest today, maybe Celtics/Bulls.
Although I think the soap opera in Chicago this year will be interesting. I think it'll be closer than most analysts think but I don't see the Bulls making the playoffs.
A team of big personalities with declining abilities and no one in the starting 5 who can truly space the floor.
Their 2nd unit will be better than last year I think, maybe McDermott becomes 2014 Kyle Korver, Mirotic and Portis make a leap. I think if McDermott does make the leap then bringing D.Wade off the bench would be best but that's never going to happen, they need to hope they get 40 wins and that's enough for the 8th spot

Clippers Blazers is a game full of intrigue. Lillard played like somebody who could be in the mvp conversation in his first game, and that is a really good Blazers team. Clippers are low water third best team in the west, arguably second best. Should be a great game.

brady23

buyer95 wrote: »

brady23 wrote: »

No games of any particular interest today, maybe Celtics/Bulls.
Although I think the soap opera in Chicago this year will be interesting. I think it'll be closer than most analysts think but I don't see the Bulls making the playoffs.
A team of big personalities with declining abilities and no one in the starting 5 who can truly space the floor.
Their 2nd unit will be better than last year I think, maybe McDermott becomes 2014 Kyle Korver, Mirotic and Portis make a leap. I think if McDermott does make the leap then bringing D.Wade off the bench would be best but that's never going to happen, they need to hope they get 40 wins and that's enough for the 8th spot

Clippers Blazers is a game full of intrigue. Lillard played like somebody who could be in the mvp conversation in his first game, and that is a really good Blazers team. Clippers are low water third best team in the west, arguably second best. Should be a great game.

I don't think Lillard wins an MVP ever to honest, I think given the way the game is progressing from a metric standpoint and given who the voters are, he'll always be deemed too inefficient and too much of a defensive liability to be considered. He ranked 15th in overall RPM among just PGs, 5th in offensive RPM and 69th in defensive RPM only ahead of Zach LaVine and JJ Barea. Steph who he is basically competing with given their similar skillset was 2nd, 1st and 5th in the same categories.
Even PER which is more heavily weighted towards offense had Curry 1st overall and Lillard joint 15th with Lowry and Paul & Westbrook both ahead.
I'm not saying he won't be better and perhaps in the conversation at some point but I think he needs to make a massive leap to be a genuine contender.

buyer95

brady23 wrote: »

I don't think Lillard wins an MVP ever to honest, I think given the way the game is progressing from a metric standpoint and given who the voters are, he'll always be deemed too inefficient and too much of a defensive liability to be considered. He ranked 15th in overall RPM among just PGs, 5th in offensive RPM and 69th in defensive RPM only ahead of Zach LaVine and JJ Barea. Steph who he is basically competing with given their similar skillset was 2nd, 1st and 5th in the same categories.
Even PER which is more heavily weighted towards offense had Curry 1st overall and Lillard joint 15th with Lowry and Paul & Westbrook both ahead.
I'm not saying he won't be better and perhaps in the conversation at some point but I think he needs to make a massive leap to be a genuine contender.

I never said I thought he would be either, I simply said he could well be in the conversation. I predicted that LeBron would win it on this a few days ago and I still think he will. But I think the Blazers will be very good this year and I think Lillard is primed for a leap.

He is the best player on a team that won 44 games last year, a team that upset the Clippers in 6 games in the playoffs and a team that will only improve this year. Durant joining the dubs will only split the vote between him and Curry ruling both out of the mvp race. Westbrook is a candidate but I don't see OKC winning enough games for him to get the award. Davis is an mvp talent but again the Pelicans are not going to be relevant enough for him to be a real mvp candidate. Harden will be in the mix, and Kawhi Leonard too. Lillard is a dark horse, and I don't think he will win it this year but it is not beyond the bounds of posibility.

brady23

buyer95 wrote: »

brady23 wrote: »

I don't think Lillard wins an MVP ever to honest, I think given the way the game is progressing from a metric standpoint and given who the voters are, he'll always be deemed too inefficient and too much of a defensive liability to be considered. He ranked 15th in overall RPM among just PGs, 5th in offensive RPM and 69th in defensive RPM only ahead of Zach LaVine and JJ Barea. Steph who he is basically competing with given their similar skillset was 2nd, 1st and 5th in the same categories.
Even PER which is more heavily weighted towards offense had Curry 1st overall and Lillard joint 15th with Lowry and Paul & Westbrook both ahead.
I'm not saying he won't be better and perhaps in the conversation at some point but I think he needs to make a massive leap to be a genuine contender.

I never said I thought he would be either, I simply said he could well be in the conversation. I predicted that LeBron would win it on this a few days ago and I still think he will. But I think the Blazers will be very good this year and I think Lillard is primed for a leap.

He is the best player on a team that won 44 games last year, a team that will only improve this year. Durant joining the dubs will only split the vote between him and Curry ruling both out of the mvp race. Westbrook is a candidate but I don't see OKC winning enough games for him to get the award. Davis is an mvp talent but again the Pelicans are not going to be relevant enough for him to be a real mvp candidate. Harden will be in the mix, and Kawhi Leonard too. Lillard is a dark horse, and I don't think he will win it this year but it is not beyond the bounds of posibility.

I think this could be the most widely open MVP in years so yeah definitely a big improvement by a number of players could see a new MVP.
I think Harden and Kawhi would be my front runners because Kawhi obviously makes the playoffs and pretty sure Harden will too and if they continue on an upward trend they seem the best bet.
Durant & Steph for the reasons you mentioned seems logical but sneaking suspicion Steph might make Durants numbers even better. Durant won it sharing the ball with someone who doesn't play off the ball as well as Steph. It's the two tertiary players in Klay & Draymond who probably have higher usage rates than OKCs 3rd and 4th options but it will be interesting.
LeBron may go for MVP but maybe in a more Oscar Robertson type way with a 20/9/9 while being insanely efficient.
Anthony Davis will put up some gaudy numbers in raw and metrics but his team is obviously awful.
Blake with a year of redemption and CP3 maybe finally hands over the reigns.
I think there are lots of great subplots for that award alone. It will be great to see.

me and the biz

brady23 wrote: »

No games of any particular interest today, maybe Celtics/Bulls.
Although I think the soap opera in Chicago this year will be interesting. I think it'll be closer than most analysts think but I don't see the Bulls making the playoffs.
A team of big personalities with declining abilities and no one in the starting 5 who can truly space the floor.
Their 2nd unit will be better than last year I think, maybe McDermott becomes 2014 Kyle Korver, Mirotic and Portis make a leap. I think if McDermott does make the leap then bringing D.Wade off the bench would be best but that's never going to happen, they need to hope they get 40 wins and that's enough for the 8th spot

On the face of it, its not an interesting night. But as a long suffering Kings fan tonight is special as its opening night in the new arena in Sactown against the Spurs. Plenty of highs and pretty much a decade of lows now. I've resigned myself twice to watching my last game as a Kings fan so just the fact that I can still watch them tonight has put a huge smile on my face.

Heading over again to the Garden to watch them in just over 4 weeks against the Knicks. They're a joke of a franchise but **** it was hard imaging basketball without the Kings when they were genuinely looking like they were being relocated to Anaheim, Virginia Beach and then again in 2013 to Seattle and Hansens group.

Just glad to go from this: [/url]https://youtu.be/ekMV5dSmCOk[url][/url][url]

To this:
[/url]https://youtu.be/FAr_jxMLgQ0[url][/url]

brady23

Chicago with a really strange line up now. Rondo, Carter Williams, Wade, Butler & Gibson it could be the worst 3-pt shooting line up in the NBA on paper but Wade is 3/3 from 3pt line so far.
Mirotic looks pretty good so far, missed a few shots but he can be very good, I think he's just caught in the middle of that 3/4 spot

Not sure how many would find this interesting. It doesn't really come to any sort of conclusion as such but definitely questions the value of advanced metrics to a degree

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-chris-paul-conundrum/?addata=espn:nba:index

enaeknala1

Are the highlights on nba.com not working for anyone else?

I have tried on three different browsers and that doesnt seem to be the issue, when I click into the game it just says the page you requested was not found.

Does anyone use any other site for highlights of the games?
I know there is the 9/10 minute highlights available on youtube but I'm looking for a shorter piece.

Thanks guys

K.O.Kiki

enaeknala1 wrote: »

Are the highlights on nba.com not working for anyone else?

I have tried on three different browsers and that doesnt seem to be the issue, when I click into the game it just says the page you requested was not found.

Does anyone use any other site for highlights of the games?
I know there is the 9/10 minute highlights available on youtube but I'm looking for a shorter piece.

Thanks guys

NBA's official youtube account should have the smaller highlights.

ButtersSuki

enaeknala1 wrote: »

Are the highlights on nba.com not working for anyone else?

I have tried on three different browsers and that doesnt seem to be the issue, when I click into the game it just says the page you requested was not found.

Does anyone use any other site for highlights of the games?
I know there is the 9/10 minute highlights available on youtube but I'm looking for a shorter piece.

Thanks guys

Yup, they've changed the site and the 2minute highlights video you used to get on there aren't working when they're posted and more often than not aren't there at the moment. Shame, was a good way to recap the games quickly.

ButtersSuki

brady23 wrote: »

I think this could be the most widely open MVP in years so yeah definitely a big improvement by a number of players could see a new MVP.
I think Harden and Kawhi would be my front runners because Kawhi obviously makes the playoffs and pretty sure Harden will too and if they continue on an upward trend they seem the best bet.
Durant & Steph for the reasons you mentioned seems logical but sneaking suspicion Steph might make Durants numbers even better. Durant won it sharing the ball with someone who doesn't play off the ball as well as Steph. It's the two tertiary players in Klay & Draymond who probably have higher usage rates than OKCs 3rd and 4th options but it will be interesting.
LeBron may go for MVP but maybe in a more Oscar Robertson type way with a 20/9/9 while being insanely efficient.
Anthony Davis will put up some gaudy numbers in raw and metrics but his team is obviously awful.
Blake with a year of redemption and CP3 maybe finally hands over the reigns.
I think there are lots of great subplots for that award alone. It will be great to see.

It's wide open for the "wrong" reasons though.

As I posted previously, if I'm Cleveland I rest LeBron as much as possible all year - that deprives him of the chance of winning it.

Likewise, GS and San An are best at managing minutes league wide....hence that impacts all of their players.

Durant and Curry dilute each other, unless Curry decides (and it looks like he is) sacrifice hugely for KD.

If any of the above 3 decided to go flat out to win the MVP (and F*ck the team consequences) then it's a very different race.

Going back to the best player on the best team argument (and that's how a lot of the press votes), for me that would likely mean KD (I listed a lot of reasons for this in my previous post on this.

However, for the minutes reasons I think it's wide open.

Harden will play crazy minutes again and have crazy stats. As will Westbrook. But they'll both have average win/loss records. OKC may not even make the play offs and even if he average s atriple double I can't see Westbrook getting the MVP under those circumstances.

I don't see anyone outside that bunch having a chance.

Regardless of what kinda season anyone else has (Davis for example), the MVP in the NBA isn't on a team going 42-40 and scraping into the play offs on the 8th seed.

It could be a very strange but very interesting year.

rushfan

ButtersSuki wrote:

Yup, they've changed the site and the 2minute highlights video you used to get on there aren't working when they're posted and more often than not aren't there at the moment. Shame, was a good way to recap the games quickly.

Has anyone seen NBA Tonight listed on any of the sports channels yet? Thought it would have started at this stage, unless I've missed it? ???

K.O.Kiki

ButtersSuki wrote: »

It's wide open for the "wrong" reasons though.

As I posted previously, if I'm Cleveland I rest LeBron as much as possible all year - that deprives him of the chance of winning it.

Likewise, GS and San An are best at managing minutes league wide....hence that impacts all of their players.

Durant and Curry dilute each other, unless Curry decides (and it looks like he is) sacrifice hugely for KD.

If any of the above 3 decided to go flat out to win the MVP (and F*ck the team consequences) then it's a very different race.

Going back to the best player on the best team argument (and that's how a lot of the press votes), for me that would likely mean KD (I listed a lot of reasons for this in my previous post on this.

However, for the minutes reasons I think it's wide open.

Harden will play crazy minutes again and have crazy stats. As will Westbrook. But they'll both have average win/loss records. OKC may not even make the play offs and even if he average s atriple double I can't see Westbrook getting the MVP under those circumstances.

I don't see anyone outside that bunch having a chance.

Regardless of what kinda season anyone else has (Davis for example), the MVP in the NBA isn't on a team going 42-40 and scraping into the play offs on the 8th seed.

It could be a very strange but very interesting year.

However, what if OKC scrapes into the Playoffs at 8th, and faces the Warriors in Round 1?

:D

ButtersSuki

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

However, what if OKC scrapes into the Playoffs at 8th, and faces the Warriors in Round 1?

:D

Oh well then people be like:

Carcharodon

Just from watching a few games, looks like it could be a very interesting year, Warriors and Spurs won't have it all their own way like last year, early days but looks like some big players and teams are trying to step it up with a point to prove

brady23

I personally really like Kawhi for MVP anyway. A guy with a very balanced skillset of defense and offense, obviously more naturally defensively gifted.
Timmy retires, Spurs win 55 games plus, under their confirmed new leader. He bumps his averages up to 24/7/5 while competing for DPOY and being very high in advanced stats too.
Assuming D'Antonis style goes well, Capela plays well and Houston win, I'd have Kawhi, Harden & Durant as my top 3 not necessarily in that order but again it's pretty open.

Dirty Dingus McGee

rushfan wrote: »

Has anyone seen NBA Tonight listed on any of the sports channels yet? Thought it would have started at this stage, unless I've missed it? ???

I've searched and doesn't seem to be on BT sport this year.

Carcharodon

Anthony Davis is playing like he is in a video game right now, just wow, incredible player, shame he has pretty much no help what so ever

ButtersSuki

Carcharodon wrote: »

Anthony Davis is playing like he is in a video game right now, just wow, incredible player, shame he has pretty much no help what so ever

Looks like the extended rest he got has done him the world of good. Last year I had him in my MVP list pre-season but his stock fell so heavily after last year I honestly didn't even think of including him in my shortlist this year. Such a rare talent, but his team have to make the playoffs for him to get recognition for this. His All NBA selection however is pretty much a shoe in after 2 games. Boogie overtook him last year but it's fair to say Davis on this form is right back there.

Paully D

I just cannot see myself ever getting used to seeing D Wade in a Bulls uniform. :pac: