NBA 2018-19 Thread

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namkcuR

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The other thread is nearly at 1000 and has been going for two seasons, and preseason starts in two weeks, so I figured it's a good time to start a new thread.

I used to post questions when I would start these threads, so I figured I'd so now...

Will the Warriors become the first team since the Shaq/Kobe Lakers to three-peat?

How will the LeBron Lakers fare in year one? Will they surprise people and contend quickly? Or is this going to be a punted season while they hope for FA re-enforcements next summer?

Houston lost Ariza and Anderson and added Melo, Chriss, and Knight. Will they be better or worse than last season?

Will Boston, with Kyrie and Hayward healthy, be as good as advertised? Will they make the finals?

Will the new-look Raptors, led by Kahwi and Lowry with Green, Ibaka, and Val, be a threat to Boston in the East? Will Kahwi's heart be in it, will he be convinced to stay, or is he just counting down the days until he can choose his own destiny?

Will the Embiid/Simmons Sixers continue their rise, or will they falter? Will Fultz live up to his draft stock?

The Spurs have moved on from the Kawhi drama. Will their new LMA/DeRozan led core make any noise out West? Will this season be Pops' swan song?

Having locked Paul George up long-term, swapped Melo for Schroeder, and gotten back Andre Roberson after his injury, will OKC be improved? Or did they just make lateral moves?

Will Chicago's Jabari Parker experiment, combined with the addition of rookie Wendell Carter, see any success(i.e. 8th seed), or will the Carter/Lauri/Parker/LaVine/Dunn core be headed to the lottery again?

Will the Cavs be a treadmill team with Love leading the way, or will they be outright bad?

Will swapping Gortat for Dwight improve the Wizards? Or will Dwight continue his streak of not making his teams better?

Will DeAndre Jordan make Dallas any better?

Will Porzingis get back to his pre-injury form, or will it permanently affect his game?

How will the marquee rookies look? Ayton? Doncic? Bagley? Bamba? Young?
 
The other thread is nearly at 1000 and has been going for two seasons, and preseason starts in two weeks, so I figured it's a good time to start a new thread.

I used to post questions when I would start these threads, so I figured I'd so now...

I've missed these :sad:

Will the Warriors become the first team since the Shaq/Kobe Lakers to three-peat?

Barring massive injury problems (and a 5% chance that Boogie Cousins is just a dick and ruins things) - yes.

How will the LeBron Lakers fare in year one? Will they surprise people and contend quickly? Or is this going to be a punted season while they hope for FA re-enforcements next summer?

The roster as currently constructed will have to fight to make the playoffs. If they don't make any moves, then I think this year is a punt. They're waiting for Kawhi (and shhhhh Anthony Davis).

But as is? Man... West is just too damn good.

Houston lost Ariza and Anderson and added Melo, Chriss, and Knight. Will they be better or worse than last season?

Worse, but not by a ton

Will Boston, with Kyrie and Hayward healthy, be as good as advertised? Will they make the finals?

Yes, unless Kyrie forces a trade to the Knicks.

Will the new-look Raptors, led by Kahwi and Lowry with Green, Ibaka, and Val, be a threat to Boston in the East? Will Kahwi's heart be in it, will he be convinced to stay, or is he just counting down the days until he can choose his own destiny?

They're the 2nd best team and will be a finalist I'd Boston implodes. Better question - will Kawhi speak in public this season?

Will the Embiid/Simmons Sixers continue their rise, or will they falter? Will Fultz live up to his draft stock?

Stagnate. They won't drop, other than maybe a spot, but they won't make any huge leaps either. Toronto and Boston are both better. Indiana could be better. Washington (see below) could be better.

re: Fultz? No, because even if he fixes that broken slingshot of his, Tatum is still better. But if anyone can fix his jumper it's the guy he worked with (Drew Hanlen). If it's still broke? That shit's broke forever.

The Spurs have moved on from the Kawhi drama. Will their new LMA/DeRozan led core make any noise out West? Will this season be Pops' swan song?

They made the playoffs with Leonard playing 8 games last season. Everyone is looking at DeRozan as a downgrade because he's not as good as Kawhi, which is true, but he's a hell of a lot better than whoever played in Kawhi's place in those other 74 games.

Having locked Paul George up long-term, swapped Melo for Schroeder, and gotten back Andre Roberson after his injury, will OKC be improved? Or did they just make lateral moves?

Better. Addition by subtraction.

Will Chicago's Jabari Parker experiment, combined with the addition of rookie Wendell Carter, see any success(i.e. 8th seed), or will the Carter/Lauri/Parker/LaVine/Dunn core be headed to the lottery again?

In the East, anything is possible.

Will the Cavs be a treadmill team with Love leading the way, or will they be outright bad?

In the East, anything is possible.

Will swapping Gortat for Dwight improve the Wizards? Or will Dwight continue his streak of not making his teams better?

Ugh.

On paper they are much improved and upgraded their two man weaknesses - Center and a guard off the bench who can spell Brad or John. Wall is also healthy, as is Otto Porter and Markief Morris, and Kelly Oubre has had a great off-season and looks ready to make a huge jump.

But...

It's a volatile mix of personalities. I see them either pushing for wither the 3 or 4 seed if everything goes well, or being in the lottery if it implodes. I don't see a ton of middle ground.

Will DeAndre Jordan make Dallas any better?

No. But Luka Doncic sure as shit will.

Will Porzingis get back to his pre-injury form, or will it permanently affect his game?

In time, yes. This year, flashes but inconsistent.

Next year? Porzingis, Knox, Kyrie and Butler (or, gasp, KD) and Knicks are all of a sudden in the mix in the East.

Unless Dolan figures out a way to fuck it up. Which is highly possible.

How will the marquee rookies look? Ayton? Doncic? Bagley? Bamba? Young?

Doncic rookie of the year, with Kevin Knox right behind him (unless Ben Simmons is eligible again).
 
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You had the chance to de-date the thread and you didn’t?!?!

Anyways, Dw-yane Wade did his own little “the decision” and is returning for a final season.
 
In all seriousness it’s not really what we can make it to. People are bad at resubscribing so it’s still 2015 in the nhl.
 
lolz this fucking team
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Kyrie Irving says he plans on re-signing with Celtics

And I'd say Kyrie is the best player....coming into this season at least. Jayson Tatum will be the Celtics' best player sooner rather than later.
Because Hayward is hurt, sure.

If both are healthy - Hayward is the best player. He's incredibly underrated.

But, yea... it's all temporary. Tatum will be within a matter of a year or two.
 
So last minute of a playoff game, you're giving the ball to Hayward over Irving? No way.
 
Look... Hayward played in Utah. He's naturally going to be overlooked.

And the "who will you give the last shot to" is a loaded question that doesn't necessarily mean who's the best player.

That said... In their last 3 healthy seasons. Who would you have? I've tossed in two non Celtics to mix it up. How would you rate these 4 players, 1 to 4?

Player A
VORP - 4.0, 3.3, 3.6
WS - 10.4, 8.9, 8.7
TS% - .595, .559, .567

Player B
VORP - 4.3, 3.7, 3.9
WS - 8.8, 5.7, 7.8
TS% - .541, .510, .523

Player C
VORP - 4.0, 2.9, 1.5
WS - 8.9, 8.9, 5.0
TS% - .610, .580, .540

Player D
VORP - 3.3, 3.2, 4.6
WS - 8.9, 7.1, 9.2
TS% - .570, .587, .557
 
Well C is the one I'd take.

Plus you said "healthy" seasons, using 2015-16 for Kyrie is not a healthy season, he played 53 games and was coming back from a fractured kneecap.
So you should skip that and replace it with 14-15 when his VORP was 3.7 and WS was 10.4 and TS% was .583.

So with that I'll go C A B D
 
Well C is the one I'd take.

Plus you said "healthy" seasons, using 2015-16 for Kyrie is not a healthy season, he played 53 games and was coming back from a fractured kneecap.
So you should skip that and replace it with 14-15 when his VORP was 3.7 and WS was 10.4 and TS% was .583.

So with that I'll go C A B D

You were supposed to vote before looking ;)

A is Hayward

C is Kyrie

B is John Wall

D is Paul George




So long story short... Even if you still think Kyrie is better, Hayward is pretty damn good and highly underrated.
 
I only looked up Kyrie to confirm my suspicion when I saw that 1.5. I didn't look up the other 3 and ranked those based on numbers alone.
Probably about how I'd rank them based on the eyeball test as well now knowing who was who.

And believe me I know Hayward is good, and look forward to seeing the 2 of them on the court together for many seasons to come. If Trader Danny can keep everyone together under the cap when Brown and Tatum are up for new deals (thankfully Horford's deal will be expiring freeing up space by then), this should be a better run than the Garnett Celts had. Just need the Warriors to meet their untimely demise before they get back to Coney Island cause everyone thinks they shot Cyrus.
 
You talk about Hayward being underrated, but so is Irving lately IMO. Remember during last year's playoffs when people were saying they should trade him because Rozier was just as good or close to it? That was a bunch of bullshit. Irving is one of the best pure scorers and ballhandlers in the league, and top of that he hit one of the biggest shots in Finals history. He's proven under pressure. You can't say that about too many players in the league, and certainly not Hayward right now.
 
You talk about Hayward being underrated, but so is Irving lately IMO. Remember during last year's playoffs when people were saying they should trade him because Rozier was just as good or close to it? That was a bunch of bullshit. Irving is one of the best pure scorers and ballhandlers in the league, and top of that he hit one of the biggest shots in Finals history. He's proven under pressure. You can't say that about too many players in the league, and certainly not Hayward right now.

I don't think Irving is underrated.

I think the line of thought around trading Kyrie was two fold.

A) he has a very high usage rate, and people were worried about him being too ball dominant. It's not a crazy concern, either. But you still don't trade him. There are similar concerns about John Wall.

B) he's a free agent after this year and before this week it was the hot rumor that he was bolting for the Knicks.

Anyone who thought they should trade him because they have Rozier is a moron.

Regarding playing under pressure? Sure, he hit huge shots 3 years ago. He also did so as the #2 option - a different beast.

I'm in no way saying Irving is bad and I don't mean it as an insult to sat Hayward is better. It's also subjective or course - do you prefer a ball dominant guard or someone who plays more without the ball. Clearly I prefer the later, which admittedly clouds my judgement.
 
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Yeah there was a fair amount of talk about trading Kyrie and keeping Rozier on sports talk radio here last spring...until game 7 of the ECF, then those folks went conspicuously silent.
There is exactly one scenario where that trade would make sense, and that's if Kyrie told Trader Danny he was definitely bolting when his deal was up, then you get something for him. But that was never said, the Knicks rumors surfaced from some schlub using conversation from a couple of years ago of Kyrie trying to persuade Jimmy Butler to join him in Cleveland and somehow spun it to the 2 of them wanting to team up next year in NYC.
Obviously have to wait until Irving signs which won't be till the offseason, but he made it clear yesterday he intends to stay here. He also had made it known in the past that he would like to play with Hayward but the Butler conspiracy theorists ignored that info.
 
Yeah there was a fair amount of talk about trading Kyrie and keeping Rozier on sports talk radio here last spring...until game 7 of the ECF, then those folks went conspicuously silent.
There is exactly one scenario where that trade would make sense, and that's if Kyrie told Trader Danny he was definitely bolting when his deal was up, then you get something for him. But that was never said, the Knicks rumors surfaced from some schlub using conversation from a couple of years ago of Kyrie trying to persuade Jimmy Butler to join him in Cleveland and somehow spun it to the 2 of them wanting to team up next year in NYC.
Obviously have to wait until Irving signs which won't be till the offseason, but he made it clear yesterday he intends to stay here. He also had made it known in the past that he would like to play with Hayward but the Butler conspiracy theorists ignored that info.
Ahhhhhh there was a little more to it then that. He is a Jersey guy, and certain members of his family have issues not spilling their guts.

Alas... it'll be very hard for him to go back on this now. He always can, of course.

There's also the distinct possibility that other pieces have started moving behind the scenes and he knows New York isn't a realistic option anymore. And nobody wants to play for the Nets.
 
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