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Thread: 2017-18 NBA Season..."Closing the gap on the Warriors"

  1. #1036
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    Re: 2017-18 NBA Season..."Closing the gap on the Warriors"

    The Mother-in-Law is going with the Father-in-Law to OKC game this evening. Blazers really missed Aminu against the Lakers, though that wasn't the main problem (Vonleh not ready, Brook Lopez doing whatever he wantd, Dame refusing to pass the ball in the 2nd half). Aminu will be missed badly defensively against George, Anthony and Westbrook, whether it's on weakside help, switches, or iso defense. Vonleh has to ramp up quickly while Harkless needs to have his best game of the season. Should be fun to watch.
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."


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  3. #1037
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    Re: 2017-18 NBA Season..."Closing the gap on the Warriors"

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingspoint View Post
    Defense wins Championships.

    The current roster of the Portland Trailblazers is set up to win a Championship.

    Portland will earn the #2 seed in the Western Conference this season and meet Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. From there, anything can happen.

    Defense is the least understood element of basketball. In the current NBA climate, it's less understood than it was 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago mostly because it's rarely played. Contracts are given to the players who score the most. Interviews after games are given to players who score the most. Championship trophies are given to teams who play the best Defense. Cleveland had the two best ISO scorers in the NBA in Irving and James. Golden State had the better combination of a team Defense and an Offense that creates the highest shot percentages in the league.

    Here's why Portland's current roster is set up to Win a Championship:

    1. Their continuity. Their rotation players have played together the longest than any team other than Golden State. This means that they have the opportunity to communicate better on Defense than any other team than Golden State and San Antonio, if they are committed to playing Defense.

    2. Their experience. Though they were the youngest team in the NBA last season by average age, their rotation players all have 4-7 years of NBA experience, except Nurkic, who has about three. It's hard enough to play Defense in the NBA when you don't know the plays the other team is running. During a player's first 3-4 years in the NBA, all they are thinking about is scoring and if they are standing in the right spot on Offense. Defensively, as each year passes, each NBA player gleens the ability to recognize an opponent's play and what and where all five players will be doing and moving on a given play. Nobody does this year after year better than the Spurs. It's their (Pop's) signature. Everyone is committed to learning it.

    Where it breaks down for teams is when anything other than all five players recognise the opponent's entire play and anticipate where to be defensively. Breakdown ocvurs if one doesn't know it all, more if two don't more if three don't, etc. Bur, here's where it gets more difficult. The Defense must be communicated by all five players continuously. This is where San Antonio is always superior to the rest of the league. They don't have better talent, usually worse, in fact, but they are always better prepared and they execute better defensively. For teams other than San Antonio who are changing Coaches and players all the time, this communication is difficult to create. Golden State has an experienced core that communicates it well, and Durant is an excellent, dedicated defender the last couple of seasons.

    3. Lillard and C.J. have reached the level of decent defenders, whil Aminu, Harkless and Turner all play Defense at an All-NBA level, but more importantly, they now all have the knowledge of knowing most, if not all, of the opponents' plays and not just can, but are communicating with each other, the defensive assignments on each play that will best interrupt the play and create a more difficult FG attempt.

    4. This is a negative and a positive: Nurkic is still a year or two or three from gleening the entire opponent's plays and assignments, but Nurkic' defensive desires and rim protection allow the other four players to take more chances to overplay passing lanes and to get closer to the ball and to push people off of the three-point line without the greatef consequence of giving up a play in the lane. Lillard, C.J., Moe, Turner, Chief and even Connaughton, who has a very high basketball IQ, unlike Crabbe, are all telling Nurkic where to be on Defense, while Nurk naturally knows to simply guard the paint and the rim.

    5. The entire team is deducated to Defense this year, led by Lillard. Lillard switched to a vegan diet to get himself more trim and to make himself quicker and to give himself more sustainable energy. He knows that his scoring output will drop this season simply because he will be expending a tremendous amount of energy defensively. He's already demonstrated it throughout the preseason and in the first two games. Steals and blocks aren't measures of Defensive performance. They're fantasy stats, especially blocks. A kicked ball is better than a block that goes back to an opponent because it allows for the defense to reset while a shotblock leads to an easier shot attempt as the defensive shell is broken down at that point. But, Lillard had five deflections, a steal and three blocks against Phoenix (Bledsoe and Booker are the starting Guards) in three quarters, and fiur deflections, a steal and a block in the first half against Indiana (Oladipo and Collison are the starting Guards).

    Nurkic dropped 35 pounds in the offseason so he can have more stamina and move more quickly on Defensive switches. There are no defensive metrics that measure defense very well, as defense is all about switching, interruption of the opponent's play, forcing a lower percentage shot, chasing the opponent off of the 3-point line, securing the defensive rebound, getting back defensively in transition, getting in front of and stopping the ball, and communicating correctly with each other constantly. It takes a lot more energy on Offense, does not get rewarded by the press or the paycheck, and consequently, does not get played by 90% of the league's better scorers. Nurkic is dedicated to becoming a good defensive player.

    Turner's realistic goal is to be All-NBA Defense. Aminu already is if you look at him game after game. Whoever Aminu guards always has a subpar game. In addition, Aminu has 28 Rebounds through two games and had 16 points last night. Moe is very good defensively, but he's dedicated this season to being great.
    Halfway through the season, I have to repost this crazy post from the 2nd game of the year.
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."

  4. #1038
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    Re: 2017-18 NBA Season..."Closing the gap on the Warriors"

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingspoint View Post
    From Rotoworld with Rotoworld comments:

    Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has agreed to sell the team to Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta for an NBA record sales price of $2.2 billion.

    Alexander, who bought the Rockets for $85 million back in 1993, will turn an incredible profit, as the value of sports franchises continues to skyrocket.

    Source: Adrian Wojnarowski‏ on Twitter
    Was this purchase a bargain, looking at Houston right now?
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."

  5. #1039
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    Re: 2017-18 NBA Season..."Closing the gap on the Warriors"

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingspoint View Post

    Some of Olshey's best moments are the deals that didn't happen. But, there's a positive to that. With risk comes reward. You can't accomplish a lot of good things without being wrong a few times.

    Portland should be 3rd through 6th in the West during the entire season. That's the upper third of the West. They have spent much of their time there under Olshey. This has also been one of the fastest rebuilds in NBA history.
    Need to repeat a post from August 29th.
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."

  6. #1040
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    Re: 2017-18 NBA Season..."Closing the gap on the Warriors"

    Quote Originally Posted by Kingspoint View Post
    OKC won't make the playoffs.

    The Thunder will finish 5th, Dead Last, in the Pacific Division.

    Anthony and George were in the Top-20 in usage last season. They have Giant egos. But, neither of them have the humongous ego that Russell Westbrook has who established a record for usage last season that will never be approached again.

    Durant sought greener pastures to a team that plays the complete opposite of Westbrook, that shares the ball like no team ever has in the history of the NBA.

    I could not be happier that he went to OKC.

    Pacific Division Final 2017-18 records:

    Portland..... 50-32
    Denver..... 49-33
    Utah..... 48-34
    Minnesota..... 48-34
    Oklahoma City..... 46-36
    I may be eating some crow later, but with 16-19 games left for these teams, here are the current standings:

    Portland
    37-26 .587
    Conference Record 23 -and 15
    Division Record 7 -and 6
    Home Record 20 -and 11
    Away Record 17 -and 15
    Last Ten Record 8 -and 2
    Streak Wins W 6

    Minnesota
    38-28 .576
    Conference Record 28 -and 13
    Division Record 9 -and 4
    Home Record 25 -and 7
    Away Record 13 -and 21
    Last Ten Record 4 -and 6
    Streak Losses L 2

    Oklahoma City
    37-28 .569
    Conference Record 21 -and 19
    Division Record 5 -and 9
    Home Record 21 -and 10
    Away Record 16 -and 18
    Last Ten Record 6 -and 4
    Streak Losses L 1

    Denver
    35-28 .556
    Conference Record 22 -and 20
    Division Record 6 -and 6
    Home Record 24 -and 9
    Away Record 11 -and 19
    Last Ten Record 7 -and 3
    Streak Wins W 2

    Utah
    33-30 .524
    Conference Record 22 -and 16
    Division Record 6 -and 8
    Home Record 20 -and 11
    Away Record 13 -and 19
    Last Ten Record 8 -and 2
    Streak Wins 1



    There has been only 2 major injuries: Gobert and Milsap. As of now, Butler has missed the same number of games as Lillard and fewer than Anthony. Butler's injury will eventually be major, but Denver and Utah overcame longer (Milsap) and more severe ones (Gobert is the heart and soul of the team, every bit as important as Towns).

    This is like watching (or running, if you are these teams) the 220 sprint, in my opinion, the most difficult race in Track & Field.
    Last edited by Kingspoint; 03-04-2018 at 02:29 AM.
    "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."


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