2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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tennbengal
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by tennbengal »

This may seem hopelessly naive of me, but I thought that the expectations were the Lakers were not really playoff worthy this year? They sure built their roster as if they were not serious about making the playoffs in the west. Maybe I misread it and the Lakers really thought that weird collection of vets was gonna be enough to get them there with Lebron. It's just that the West is a whole different animal than the east was during Lebron's career.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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tennbengal wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:31 am This may seem hopelessly naive of me, but I thought that the expectations were the Lakers were not really playoff worthy this year? They sure built their roster as if they were not serious about making the playoffs in the west. Maybe I misread it and the Lakers really thought that weird collection of vets was gonna be enough to get them there with Lebron. It's just that the West is a whole different animal than the east was during Lebron's career.
I thought they built their roster with a bunch of guys on one-year deals they definitely would not want back to ensure they had ample cap space for this summer.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by tennbengal »

DSafetyGuy wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:32 am
tennbengal wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:31 am This may seem hopelessly naive of me, but I thought that the expectations were the Lakers were not really playoff worthy this year? They sure built their roster as if they were not serious about making the playoffs in the west. Maybe I misread it and the Lakers really thought that weird collection of vets was gonna be enough to get them there with Lebron. It's just that the West is a whole different animal than the east was during Lebron's career.
I thought they built their roster with a bunch of guys on one-year deals they definitely would not want back to ensure they had ample cap space for this summer.
Right. That's what I thought too. Because the players they got for that particular goal sure are not who one would get if one was serious about making the playoffs in the west. I figured that this year was a torch to ready for free agency and next year. It's why I am so surprised at at the reactions to them...not making the playoffs. Seems like that was the plan, but, again, what do I know.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

tennbengal wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:40 am
DSafetyGuy wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:32 am
tennbengal wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:31 am This may seem hopelessly naive of me, but I thought that the expectations were the Lakers were not really playoff worthy this year? They sure built their roster as if they were not serious about making the playoffs in the west. Maybe I misread it and the Lakers really thought that weird collection of vets was gonna be enough to get them there with Lebron. It's just that the West is a whole different animal than the east was during Lebron's career.
I thought they built their roster with a bunch of guys on one-year deals they definitely would not want back to ensure they had ample cap space for this summer.
Right. That's what I thought too. Because the players they got for that particular goal sure are not who one would get if one was serious about making the playoffs in the west. I figured that this year was a torch to ready for free agency and next year. It's why I am so surprised at at the reactions to them...not making the playoffs. Seems like that was the plan, but, again, what do I know.
If I’m reading between the lines, they’re losing confidence that they’ll be able to land any of the big fish in the free agency market this offseason, in part because of how they’ve struggled recently. It’s also doesn’t help that the Clippers, who have been flirting hard with Kawhi all season, have been much better than expected.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by tennbengal »

Joe K wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:43 am
tennbengal wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:40 am
DSafetyGuy wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:32 am
tennbengal wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:31 am This may seem hopelessly naive of me, but I thought that the expectations were the Lakers were not really playoff worthy this year? They sure built their roster as if they were not serious about making the playoffs in the west. Maybe I misread it and the Lakers really thought that weird collection of vets was gonna be enough to get them there with Lebron. It's just that the West is a whole different animal than the east was during Lebron's career.
I thought they built their roster with a bunch of guys on one-year deals they definitely would not want back to ensure they had ample cap space for this summer.
Right. That's what I thought too. Because the players they got for that particular goal sure are not who one would get if one was serious about making the playoffs in the west. I figured that this year was a torch to ready for free agency and next year. It's why I am so surprised at at the reactions to them...not making the playoffs. Seems like that was the plan, but, again, what do I know.
If I’m reading between the lines, they’re losing confidence that they’ll be able to land any of the big fish in the free agency market this offseason, in part because of how they’ve struggled recently. It’s also doesn’t help that the Clippers, who have been flirting hard with Kawhi all season, have been much better than expected.
Huh. So I guess some within the Lakers org are now pretending that their goal was to make the playoffs this year to cover their ass? Because, if their plan was playoffs this year, their plan to do so sucked. If it was to clear space, that worked. I guess them missing on targets was not part of their worries...
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

It’s not clear that Pelinka or Magic have any idea what they’re doing so it’s entirely possible they were trying to win this year. Their handling of the Davis trade talks, where they repeatedly upped their offer without even getting a counter, was gross incompetence. Essentially every young player they have wound up getting publicly named as having been offered up, even though there was never a chance of a deal. What’s interesting about the Shelburne piece is the not-so veiled shots at LeBron for not doing an introductory press conference in LA and the suggestions that he pushed for the dumb signings like Rondo and Stephenson.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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Joe K wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:21 pm It’s not clear that Pelinka or Magic have any idea what they’re doing so it’s entirely possible they were trying to win this year. Their handling of the Davis trade talks, where they repeatedly upped their offer without even getting a counter, was gross incompetence. Essentially every young player they have wound up getting publicly named as having been offered up, even though there was never a chance of a deal. What’s interesting about the Shelburne piece is the not-so veiled shots at LeBron for not doing an introductory press conference in LA and the suggestions that he pushed for the dumb signings like Rondo and Stephenson.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Giff »

Rockets back to #3. I really wish I had dropped $20 on them to win it all when I was in Vegas.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Brontoburglar »

The Thunder being unable to solve the Timberwolves for whatever reason + this brutal four-game road trip (Blazers, Clips, Jazz remaining) could turn the season.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

Giff wrote: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:43 am Rockets back to #3. I really wish I had dropped $20 on them to win it all when I was in Vegas.
I bet the over in their preseason wins total. Just need a 16-2 finish to get the push!

(If they win the next 4 I’ll start getting intrigued.)
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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“All I'm sayin' is, he comes near me, I'll put him in the wall.”
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

Cousins provides some additional offensive punch but he’s really not a great fit with how they play defensively. One of the few things that gives me hope that the Warriors could lose is that Steve Kerr blew Game 7 of the 2016 Finals by playing their traditional centers too much. Maybe he’ll make the same mistake this year against a team like Houston or Milwaukee that can exploit Cousins on the defensive end.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

The fun times continue in LA:
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by DSafetyGuy »

Most recent Lowe Post podcast with Kevin Arnovitz does a nice job on the Lakers' front office (second half of the pod). It's not nice to them and made me think of how that group talks about "Laker exceptionalism" like it's a real thing.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

DSafetyGuy wrote: Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:51 am Most recent Lowe Post podcast with Kevin Arnovitz does a nice job on the Lakers' front office (second half of the pod). It's not nice to them and made me think of how that group talks about "Laker exceptionalism" like it's a real thing.
Even if the plan for this year was just to punt and save cap space, the decision not to trade for Paul George in the summer of 2017 was a huge mistake. George has been awesome this year and should be an MVP finalist (with Harden and Giannis). And they just assumed that his Palmdale roots and “Laker exceptionalism” were enough to ensure they’d land him as a free agent in 2018. Then they went and repeated that same mistake with Kawhi one year later. Toronto is probably making a deep run this year and even if he wants to leave for LA, why not choose the Clippers?
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by mister d »

Why does anyone care about LeBron passing Jordan in all-time points when he still needs to take >1,200 more shots to catch up in that category?
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

mister d wrote: Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:05 pm Why does anyone care about LeBron passing Jordan in all-time points when he still needs to take >1,200 more shots to catch up in that category?
It will be an interesting Venn Diagram comparing “people who pretend Jordan’s Wizards years never happen” and “people who say LeBron’s Lakers years diminish his legacy.”
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Rex »

Maybe Lebron’s Laker years are intended to be like a singer’s late career Vegas residency.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Johnnie »

Seriously impressive work:

Not a spoiler. Just a ginormous Reddit post labeled "Projecting the 2019 Lakers Free Agency." It's massive.
[+] spoiler
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Brontoburglar »

TL,DR: The lakers are still on a good situation to be successful, if they make the right moves.
which is where they were immediately after signing Bron ... and they haven't made the right moves in the slightest
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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That someone would spend that much effort then close with that is pretty wild.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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Don't go out looking for the Josef Nurkic injury.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Giff »

Doesn't it suck a lot worse that it was in the 2nd OT.

The fact there's even a debate about it still is completely absurd, but the top 2 MVP candidates face-off tonight. Ready for all the hot takes.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by A_B »

Giff wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:14 am Doesn't it suck a lot worse that it was in the 2nd OT.

The fact there's even a debate about it still is completely absurd, but the top 2 MVP candidates face-off tonight. Ready for all the hot takes.
I've moved over to the "has to be Harden" camp from the "it could go either way" camp.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

A_B wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:18 am
Giff wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:14 am Doesn't it suck a lot worse that it was in the 2nd OT.

The fact there's even a debate about it still is completely absurd, but the top 2 MVP candidates face-off tonight. Ready for all the hot takes.
I've moved over to the "has to be Harden" camp from the "it could go either way" camp.
Yeah, I’d probably lean Harden but you can absolutely justify Giannis. In addition to the gaudy scoring and rebounding stats, he’s one of the best defenders in the NBA. He’s both a great rim protector and a great one-on-one defender in ISO situations.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by A_B »

Yuck. Porzingis has been accused of rape in New York. Maybe why knicks were ok with dealing him? Don’t mean to be speculative.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

A_B wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:09 pm Yuck. Porzingis has been accused of rape in New York. Maybe why knicks were ok with dealing him? Don’t mean to be speculative.
Apparently the Knicks mentioned it to the Mavs before the trade was completed. Given the prior issues with rampant sexual harassment within the Mavs’ front office, Mark Cuban had better hope that the accusations turn out to be unsupported or it’s a terrible look for his organization.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Brontoburglar »

given that Porzingis' camp is the one that (allegedly) referred this to investigators because the woman was allegedly asking them for $68K as a settlement of sorts, this doesn't feel like a straightforward accusation in the slightest
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by A_B »

Kevin Durant called a ref a 'bitch ass motherfucker" after being ejected. That's gotta be a suspension, right, on top of the one game automatic for 16 technicals.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

A_B wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:46 am Kevin Durant called a ref a 'bitch ass motherfucker" after being ejected. That's gotta be a suspension, right, on top of the one game automatic for 16 technicals.
Apart from Klay, everyone on that team is a complete asshole to the officials. In fact, antagonizing the refs appears to be a big part of how they keep themselves even quasi-interested in the regular season. Green, Durant and Curry all got well-deserved fines after the same game last week. (Curry taunted the officials after hitting a game-tying shot, Durant called an official the game’s MVP, and Green compared that official to Donaghy.)
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by sancarlos »

Joe K wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 9:24 am
A_B wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:46 am Kevin Durant called a ref a 'bitch ass motherfucker" after being ejected. That's gotta be a suspension, right, on top of the one game automatic for 16 technicals.
Apart from Klay, everyone on that team is a complete asshole to the officials. In fact, antagonizing the refs appears to be a big part of how they keep themselves even quasi-interested in the regular season. Green, Durant and Curry all got well-deserved fines after the same game last week. (Curry taunted the officials after hitting a game-tying shot, Durant called an official the game’s MVP, and Green compared that official to Donaghy.)
Did you see the end of that Minnesota game? I'm not excusing their assholery. But, man, the officiating sure looked Donaghyish.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

sancarlos wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:58 am
Joe K wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 9:24 am
A_B wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:46 am Kevin Durant called a ref a 'bitch ass motherfucker" after being ejected. That's gotta be a suspension, right, on top of the one game automatic for 16 technicals.
Apart from Klay, everyone on that team is a complete asshole to the officials. In fact, antagonizing the refs appears to be a big part of how they keep themselves even quasi-interested in the regular season. Green, Durant and Curry all got well-deserved fines after the same game last week. (Curry taunted the officials after hitting a game-tying shot, Durant called an official the game’s MVP, and Green compared that official to Donaghy.)
Did you see the end of that Minnesota game? I'm not excusing their assholery. But, man, the officiating sure looked Donaghyish.
Maybe Curry shouldn’t have blatantly taunted the officials after hitting his game-tying 3 if the Warriors didn’t want a borderline call to go against them. Officials are human and if you act like a complete asshole to them they’re not going to give you the benefit of the doubt.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by duff »

Joe K wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:05 pm
sancarlos wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:58 am
Joe K wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 9:24 am
A_B wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:46 am Kevin Durant called a ref a 'bitch ass motherfucker" after being ejected. That's gotta be a suspension, right, on top of the one game automatic for 16 technicals.
Apart from Klay, everyone on that team is a complete asshole to the officials. In fact, antagonizing the refs appears to be a big part of how they keep themselves even quasi-interested in the regular season. Green, Durant and Curry all got well-deserved fines after the same game last week. (Curry taunted the officials after hitting a game-tying shot, Durant called an official the game’s MVP, and Green compared that official to Donaghy.)
Did you see the end of that Minnesota game? I'm not excusing their assholery. But, man, the officiating sure looked Donaghyish.
Maybe Curry shouldn’t have blatantly taunted the officials after hitting his game-tying 3 if the Warriors didn’t want a borderline call to go against them. Officials are human and if you act like a complete asshole to them they’re not going to give you the benefit of the doubt.
And Durant clearly fouled on the last play. Steph should have been T'd up after his taunting of the refs. And Durant and Kerr should have been T'd up after the non-shooting foul was called. Was Durant in the act of shooting? Probably, but it was not viewed that way by the refs.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Giff »

I know all teams get the benefit of shitty calls or have shitty calls against them, but it's maddening to watch that team constantly whine about it when they get away with shit like this:

Image
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Joe K »

And as far as whining about calls go, it’s hard to top Draymond’s performance in Game 1 of last year’s Finals where he demonstratively complained about a foul call on a play where he made LeBron’s eye bleed.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by TT2.0 »

are we turning Donaghy into a verb now?
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

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TYFYS.

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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by A_B »

You know what you need? A lyrical sucker punch to the face.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Giff »

Asshole. Wrong thread.
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Re: 2018-19 NBA Regular Season Thread

Post by Johnny Carwash »

Giff wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:52 am Asshole. Wrong thread.
I know. Belongs in "Commercials."
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