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NBA 2016/17

Gobert was back, Blake was out.

Blake's offensive impact is hard to replace with such limited backup players.

And the Jazz have a bit of depth even if they don't have the star names.
 
Iso Joe still has game. In the era of Kobe, McGrady, Wade, Carter etc., people tend to forget Joe Johnson.

Hugely underrated over the years.
 
Jazz go 3-2 up on the Clippers.

I heard a Ballmer interview recently and he admitted he would do things differently if he got the chance to start again. If they go out Doc has to be in trouble. Blake will presumably leave too.

Rockets eliminate Thunder.
Warriors 4-0 v Blazers
Pacers are gone. 4-0 to the Cavs
Spurs 3-2 up on the Grizzlies
Raptors 3-2 up on the Bucks
Wizards 2-2 with the Hawks.
 
There was a rumour to that effect last year. I'm sure he'll have no shortage of suitors.

Would Blake + Westbrook contend for a title?
 
Can Westbrook + anyone contend for a title ?

Isn't a team with anyone as ball dominant as Westbrook severely limited ?
 
Can Westbrook + anyone contend for a title ?

Isn't a team with anyone as ball dominant as Westbrook severely limited ?
Following from this
Westbrook had historic usage rates during the season - Simmons wrote a great column on the issue.
The Russell Westbrook Problem – The Ringer
https://theringer.com/the-russell-westbrook-problem-54e59db48117


My favourite stat of the first round of the playoffs is that Westbrooks usage rate was higher than Michael Jordan's usage rate in SpaceJam.
 
Can Westbrook + anyone contend for a title ?

Isn't a team with anyone as ball dominant as Westbrook severely limited ?
Well, in the last 5 years, OKC have been WCF finalists thrice, and NBA finalists once.

So they've definitely been contenders.

Westbrook's gone insane this year because of a weak supporting cast, especially on offence.

If they'd retained Durant, and added some nice bench pieces (shooters in particular), I think they would have beaten the Warriors this year. They came very close last year.
 
But if they couldn't win it while they had Durant and Harden alongside Westbrook .....
I just don't see them ever being better than that.

I think the supporting cast is decent and Westbrook doesn't really allow them to be as good as they can be. If i'm wrong in that then surely Sam Presti's job can't be safe.
He has gone from having 3 of the top 10 NBA players in his team to 1 with nothing else.
 
Durant, Westbrook and Harden were 23, 22 and 22 respectively in 2011-12. Unlike in football, the prime period for an NBA athlete seems to be age 27-32.

Harden at that point was merely a promising young 6th man.

A team that young was never going to beat Lebron, Wade and Bosh in their prime.

IMO their team last year was better than that in 2011-12, with both Durant and Westbrook in their primes.
 
Durant, Westbrook and Harden were 23, 22 and 22 respectively in 2011-12. Unlike in football, the prime period for an NBA athlete seems to be age 27-32.

Harden at that point was merely a promising young 6th man.

A team that young was never going to beat Lebron, Wade and Bosh in their prime.

IMO their team last year was better than that in 2011-12, with both Durant and Westbrook in their primes.

They also had to trade Harden - they were never gonna be able to keep all 3 of those together, and they went with Ibaka (rim protector) over Harden
 
They also had to trade Harden - they were never gonna be able to keep all 3 of those together, and they went with Ibaka (rim protector) over Harden

Couldn't they have paid the luxury tax and kept him ?

I think Dmishra is selling Harden a bit short in his description of him and whilst he definitely wasn't what he is now he was still very good and was expected to improve.

My favourite Harden tidbit is that when teams tried to analyse his athleticism they found him to be entirely average for an NBA player in every respect but one. He is apparently world class at stopping - he can decelarate way quicker than others. And when you watch him play you can see how he makes it work for him.
 
Couldn't they have paid the luxury tax and kept him ?

I think Dmishra is selling Harden a bit short in his description of him and whilst he definitely wasn't what he is now he was still very good and was expected to improve.

Small market team ... They didn't want to risk it and they thought the were a better team with Ibaka/Durant/Russ than Harden/Durant/Russ.
 
Spurs, Celtics, Raptors and Wizards through to the next round.

Jazz-Clippers goes to Game 7.

So the next-round match-ups are:

East

Celtics v Wizards
Cavs v Raptors

West

Warriors v Clippers/Jazz
Spurs v Rockets

Bar the Warriors series, the rest seem like terrific match-ups. Possibly 7 games in all of them.
 
Nah the Cavs are going to sweep the Raptors. LeBron's playoff mode is not to messed with.

I predict a Wizards vs Cavs ECF and Spurs vs Warriors WCF.
 
Jazz win.

Please lord let them play at home on Saturday night against GSW. If so, I'm going.
 
Ha, yes draw just made!

Western Conference Semifinals

(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (5) Utah Jazz
Game 1 – Tue. May 2, Utah at Golden State, 10:30 p.m., TNT
Game 2 – Thu. May 4, Utah at Golden State, 10:30 p.m, ESPN
Game 3 – Sat. May 6, Golden State at Utah, 8:30 p.m., ABC
Game 4 – Mon. May 8, Golden State at Utah, TBD, TNT
Game 5 * Wed. May 10, Utah at Golden State, TBD, TNT
Game 6 * Fri. May 12, Golden State at Utah, TBD, ESPN
Game 7 * Sun. May 14, Utah at Golden State, TBD, TBD
 
Isiah Thomas with two big games has the Celtics 2 up on the Wiz.

53 points last night. You have to respect a 5'9 guy that can do that - never mind under his present circumstances.

The Warriors beat the Jazz - the reports say doing so whilst Durant's shooting was off and Curry only played 3 quarters.

Sounds like Warriors- Jazz will be a dull series and totally not worth going to see.
 
Jazz don't have the firepower to push the Warriors. That series should be a washout.

I think the Wizards will fight back some though.
 
Hilarious conspiracy theory going around in the NBA around the Morris twins.

Markieff Morris who plays for the Wizards got an ankle injury in Game 1 against the Celtics, but was back in action in Game 2 seemingly without any sign of an injury.

Conspiracy is that it's his identical twin Marcus (who plays for Detroit) who's been suiting up for the Wizards :D.

Here's a picture. They even have identical tattoos. The only difference is that Marcus is about half an inch shorter. Apparently, they used to swap places regularly when they were in school.

morris-twins.jpg
 
Tony Parker to get season-ending knee surgery. Dunno if it's good or bad news...
 
Isiah Thomas with two big games has the Celtics 2 up on the Wiz.

53 points last night. You have to respect a 5'9 guy that can do that - never mind under his present circumstances.

The Warriors beat the Jazz - the reports say doing so whilst Durant's shooting was off and Curry only played 3 quarters.

Sounds like Warriors- Jazz will be a dull series and totally not worth going to see.

Ha ha ha.
 
Raptors have completely folded before the Cavs. 3-0 now.

I expected them to be much better than this. So much for getting Ibaka and Tucker.
 
Hilarious conspiracy theory going around in the NBA around the Morris twins.

Markieff Morris who plays for the Wizards got an ankle injury in Game 1 against the Celtics, but was back in action in Game 2 seemingly without any sign of an injury.

Conspiracy is that it's his identical twin Marcus (who plays for Detroit) who's been suiting up for the Wizards :D.

Here's a picture. They even have identical tattoos. The only difference is that Marcus is about half an inch shorter. Apparently, they used to swap places regularly when they were in school.

morris-twins.jpg

I think the tatts on their right arms are slightly different. Take a look at the buildings beside the guy shooting the ball.
 
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