2015-2016 NBA SEASON: THE FAREWELL TOUR

[tyven]

what if Durant goes to Portland

[Jem]

Skiles resigned as Magic coach. What the fuck. Our season had been decent

[Moss]

Skiles resigned as Magic coach. What the fuck. Our season had been decent

Magic will be better off - he's a decent coach but there are much better coaches out there.

[Moss]

NBA draft combine is today, but no one who matters really participates

Why would players refuse to participate in the combine? It's on the agents. More and more, agents care less about draft position and more about finding the right fits for their clients. By withholding information (especially medical examinations), it gives them leverage to steer their clients away from teams that are undesirable.

And what is the least desirable team in the NBA right now? It's the Sacramento Kings. Based on my conversations on Wednesday, it looks like the Kings will struggle to get any players in the top 10 in for workouts.

"It's the most dysfunctional team in the NBA," one agent said. "I've had several clients there. They were miserable. Miserable. They don't know what they're doing. And nothing they've done this spring has changed my opinion. It would be malpractice to send one of my clients there."

lol fuck. tough to be a kings fan

[Iono]

Damn, even worse than the 76'ers?

[Moss]

there's a definite distinction between being a dysfunctional organization and being bad on the basketball court. it's never going to be fun to lose 60 games, but there is at least hope when there is cohesiveness between coach and front office

strife between players and coaches (Boogie & Karl) has to make for a terribly uncomfortable environment for other players as well

[Byrd]

Big shots to Portland, $ went hard, good series.

That series went a lot better than expected, about as close as a 5-game series can be; Portland certainly had chances to win all of those games except game 1. Even last night, in Oakland, with Curry back, it wouldn't have taken much to turn that into a Blazer win. Golden State is obviously still the better team, but the gap is considerably less than expected. Given the finish and the extremely young nature of the team, their 29-14 record in the second half of the season seems more indicative of the team than the overall 44-38 record, I think.

Should be an interesting off-season, as they also have the most cap space of anyone in the NBA. Finding someone (ideally a big) who can take some of the offensive load off the backcourt seems like the biggest need. Maybe this is the year they can finally draw an elite free agent, given the team's youth and playoff experience.

[Moss]

That series went a lot better than expected, about as close as a 5-game series can be; Portland certainly had chances to win all of those games except game 1. Even last night, in Oakland, with Curry back, it wouldn't have taken much to turn that into a Blazer win. Golden State is obviously still the better team, but the gap is considerably less than expected. Given the finish and the extremely young nature of the team, their 29-14 record in the second half of the season seems more indicative of the team than the overall 44-38 record, I think.

Should be an interesting off-season, as they also have the most cap space of anyone in the NBA. Finding someone (ideally a big) who can take some of the offensive load off the backcourt seems like the biggest need. Maybe this is the year they can finally draw an elite free agent, given the team's youth and playoff experience.

A strong offensive wing would be a big help - I don't know that it necessarily has to be a big. Ironically Nic Batum would be a great fit.

[kisada]

i think that team would be moderately absurd with whiteside or ryan anderson. but i don't think whiteside's peacing out of miami and i think anderson wants to go to sac.

[Andalusian girls]

Blazers are nice, and as importantly young, a lot of their issues may be resolved by natural player development, but right now they definitely need another playmaker and both exterior and interior defensive help. in Lillard they have the closest thing to a Steph facsimile in the league and they could recreate the most potent action in the Warriors playbook, the Curry-Draymond/Bogut screen. if the help defender doesn't step up Curry is open for a three, if he does the screener slips towards the basket and Curry threads them a pass and you have a very good passing big in motion to the rim with the ball facing a 4 on 3. the Blazers have used Plumlee some in this role, he has a natural passer's instincts, but his total lack of range and heavy reliance upon motor make me think he's best as a supporting actor. if only there were more Draymond skill-sets in the league.

but more significantly, the Blazers offense was awful good and their defense was mediocre to bad. on the perimeter neither Lillard nor McCollum are good defenders and both are wee little men for their positions, we saw Klay (and the 2 games Steph played) absolutely murder them this series with post-ups and simply rising up over them to the point Stotts had to throw Crabbe/Henderson/whomever at the problem, but in a switch-happy league hiding one player in your backcourt is hard enough none the less two. C.J. has shown signs of improvement, but given their size and lack of natural defensive instinct i imagine there is something of a ceiling with these cats and they could use a real perimeter anchor to lock down opposing stars. on the interior Plumlee showed his trademark grit but gets lost on more complex actions and can get overpowered (opponents shot 50%+ even when he was guarding them around the rim), Meyers Leonard has the muscle to bang in the post is just too slow to cover the ground needed on pick and roll actions. Aminu is probably the best defender on the roster but is trapped in a tweener's body, he needs size by his side if he projects as the long term starting stretch 4.

if i'm Portland i look hard for a real defensive center who can both guard the rim and contain pick & roll actions and a defensive wing who can ideally playmake a little so the offense doesn't totally die when CJ and Lillard sit. Horford, Whiteside, Drummond, Batum, Barnes, Ezeli, Mahinmi. lot of targets for the Blazers to look at.

[kisada]

i think horford is another strong player for them, though probably not ideal because of his age. the good thing for the blazers is that neil olshey is a really, really good GM and i'm sure he'll work to fix their flaws in this coming offseason.

[Andalusian girls]

man i love watching these teams play against each other. OKC can consistently muck up the beautiful Spurs system in a way few can

and (outside of the retarded Ginobili shove) Waiters has been playing passionate, disciplined roleplaying basketball, hustling his butt off on d and acting as a solid release valve for Durant and Russ. never thought i'd see the day

[Krandor]

Oh man, I need a streamable of Pop's quote and Doris's reaction just now in my life so bad.

"As soon as we substituted it went to crap"

"thanks"

Edit : thanks internet

https://streamable.com/offn

[Andalusian girls]

that has to be the worst half of offensive basketball San Antonio has played all year

coincidentally the past 5 games have seen the best defensive basketball OKC has played all year

[Siccmade]

lol fuck. tough to be a kings fan

Fact.

I'm not mad at the coaching change though (I was irritated with Karl from the jump), Memphis certainly overachieved in the wake of injuries. My real concern is keeping Seth Curry and Rondo. I'd like to see them as our starting back court, seriously.

Sous Chef went crazy when finally given some minutes towards the end, kind of ridiculous.

Faith in Vlade to right the course, with the amazing new arena, a solid core and some luck in the off season this could be a fun season.

Edit: At least we've got the Dubs holding us down...

[Dimmauk]

Oh man, I need a streamable of Pop's quote and Doris's reaction just now in my life so bad.

"As soon as we substituted it went to crap"

"thanks"

Edit : thanks internet

https://streamable.com/offn

Game was over at that point.

[Siccmade]

OKC needs no refs tonight... Dominant.

[kisada]

bet clips are upset that they got hurt with what happened to curry and now the spurs lol

[Andalusian girls]

they don't match up as well as they did with the Spurs but if OKC can keep up this kind of defensive effort, especially Adams Kanter and Waiters, there's huge upset potential against Golden State as well. Russ + Durant backed by an elite defense is as good as any team in the league.

[Andalusian girls]

Pop's press conference is glorious