NBA Playoffs 2018
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 10:08 am
It's the sixth version of The Swamp. What could possibly go wrong?
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I'm glad to see you so confident in the Warriors. Out here, people are very concerned about all the injuries and don't seem nearly as cocky as in past years.Joe K wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 10:29 am I hope I’m wrong but I really think we’re once again headed for a lopsided Warriors-Cavs Finals. I’d love to see someone beat Golden State but I just don’t see it happening. They got a near ideal draw, as they should be able to beat San Antonio, Portland or New Orleans even without Curry. Then if Curry can be close to full speed for the West Finals, I think they will beat Houston. In the East, I still don’t think any team can handle playoff LeBron. The Cavs suck at defense, and have no chance against a healthy Warriors team for that reason, but their offense alone should get them to the Finals.
Especially since the Blazers and Warriors are expected to face off in a couple of weeks. Only justification I can think of is that Damian Lillard is from Oakland.
Casey's done a great job, but it wasn't until I saw the Rockets a couple of months ago that I realized their lineup is full of guys on their 4th team.Coach of the Year
1. D'Antoni
2. Stevens
3. Casey
I doubt MDA will win this again, but the Rockets were such a machine this year that he's my pick. Stevens has also had a sneaky great year. I don't think many analytics-based predictions had the Celtics down for 55 wins even with a healthy Hayward and Irving.
Brett Brown. IMHO not even close. team won 10 games 2 years ago. 16 game streak to finish the season, half of it without hteir best playerPruitt wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 7:03 pmCasey's done a great job, but it wasn't until I saw the Rockets a couple of months ago that I realized their lineup is full of guys on their 4th team.Coach of the Year
1. D'Antoni
2. Stevens
3. Casey
I doubt MDA will win this again, but the Rockets were such a machine this year that he's my pick. Stevens has also had a sneaky great year. I don't think many analytics-based predictions had the Celtics down for 55 wins even with a healthy Hayward and Irving.
I'd give D'Antonio my vote.
I could totally see an argument for Brown based in part on the amazing, multi-year job he’s done with player development. Guys like Saric and Covington have gotten a lot better over the years and he helped Embiid weather the early injury problems. Simmons has also gotten a lot better as the year progressed. It’s a really strong year for coaching jobs and Brown, Quin Snyder, Terry Stotts, Alvin Gentry and Nate McMillan could all get a bunch of votes in addition to my top-3. It’s probably the deepest category this year as I think there’s a clear winner (or at least top-2) for some of the other categories.Avram wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 7:07 pmBrett Brown. IMHO not even close. team won 10 games 2 years ago. 16 game streak to finish the season, half of it without hteir best playerPruitt wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 7:03 pmCasey's done a great job, but it wasn't until I saw the Rockets a couple of months ago that I realized their lineup is full of guys on their 4th team.Coach of the Year
1. D'Antoni
2. Stevens
3. Casey
I doubt MDA will win this again, but the Rockets were such a machine this year that he's my pick. Stevens has also had a sneaky great year. I don't think many analytics-based predictions had the Celtics down for 55 wins even with a healthy Hayward and Irving.
I'd give D'Antonio my vote.
Joe K wrote: ↑Fri Apr 13, 2018 6:10 pm FWIW, here are my postseason award picks:
MVP
1. Harden
2. LeBron
3. Anthony Davis
This should be close to unanimous. Obviously, LeBron is still the league's best player when he's motivated. But the Cavs were completely dysfunctional for a significant portion of the season, and he had a significant role in that.
Coach of the Year
1. D'Antoni
2. Stevens
3. Casey
I doubt MDA will win this again, but the Rockets were such a machine this year that he's my pick. Stevens has also had a sneaky great year. I don't think many analytics-based predictions had the Celtics down for 55 wins even with a healthy Hayward and Irving.
Defensive Player of the Year
1. Gobert
2. Embiid
3. Davis
This is hard only because Gobert only played 56/82 games and Embiid only played 63/82. Otherwise, they'd be the slam-dunk top-2 picks, in that order. But Gobert's defense was so great, and the Jazz played such great team defense when he played that I think he should win even with missing nearly 1/3 of the season.
Rookie of the Year
1. Simmons
2. Mitchell
3. Tatum
Mitchell had a great year, but this shouldn't be close.
Sixth Man
Lou Williams
No one else is in the running.
Executive of the Year
Kevin Pritchard -- At the time, I thought he got robbed in the Paul George trade, but Oladipo has been awesome and Indiana wound up getting great value in that deal.
All-NBA Teams
First Team: Harden, Westbrook, LeBron, Giannis, Davis
Second Team: Lillard, Oladipo, Durant, Aldridge, Towns
Third Team: Paul, DeRozan, George, Horford, Embiid
Curry and Irving don't make it for me due to missing too many games due to injury. I still picked Paul and Embiid, but I could see either missing the cut for the same reason.
Williams averaged about 4.5 more points and 3 more assists than Gordon per game, with almost the same shooting efficiency. Also, if you want to be over- technical, Gordon started a significantly higher percentage of his games than Williams.TT2.0 wrote:Why is Eric Gordon not in the running for sixth man?
The Belinelli and Ilyasova signings were really great mid-season pickups (made possible by the Hawks' own Process-inspired teardown). Simmons is like LeBron in that his driving and passing is so good that if you surround him with enough shooters the offense can be virtually unstoppable. Between signing those two guys and Fultz returning, the Sixers basically added 3 rotation players without having to give up any assets.
And if Simmons gets a jumpshot, Whoa Nellie!Joe K wrote: ↑Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:50 amThe Belinelli and Ilyasova signings were really great mid-season pickups (made possible by the Hawks' own Process-inspired teardown). Simmons is like LeBron in that his driving and passing is so good that if you surround him with enough shooters the offense can be virtually unstoppable. Between signing those two guys and Fultz returning, the Sixers basically added 3 rotation players without having to give up any assets.
Harden will win it, easily. There’s an effort by the usual hot take artists to create a Harden-LeBron debate but among actual awards voters Harden is the runaway choice. As he should be. The Cavs’ effort level has been pathetic at times this season and LeBron (along with Ty Lue) certainly deserves criticism for that. Hell, the Cavs just lost homecourt advantage to the Pacers because they completely no-showed the first quarter of a playoff game.
Don't sell the Pacers short, especially against the Cavs. I believe the season series wins have given the Pacers a needed edge for the playoffs. Add to the fact that Cleveland needs someone else to show besides James.
Hopefully Wade’s game last night ends up just being a historical footnote by the end of the series like the 2011 Brandon Roy Resurrection game against Dallas. That was one of the all-time incredible performances that will be forgotten due to the series outcome.
Embiid coming back changes the whole thing. Miami played out of their minds last night (at least Wade did) and played really good D, but who stops Embiid? Whiteside?Joe K wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:11 amHopefully Wade’s game last night ends up just being a historical footnote by the end of the series like the 2011 Brandon Roy Resurrection game against Dallas. That was one of the all-time incredible performances that will be forgotten due to the series outcome.
That’s a pretty bad comp. The main issues with Howard are that he’s rubbed a lot of teammates the wrong way and that his effort has been inconsistent in the latter part of his career. I don’t think you anyone could say either of those things about Embiid. By all accounts, his teammates love him and he played his ass off on the court. And while I don’t fault Kawhi for he’s handling his injury issues this year, is Embiid expressing frustration about *not* returning from an injury quickly really going to bother Philly fans, coaches or execs?
Absolutely. As far as I can tell, there is pretty good chemistry on this team, and they all get along well. If anything, Embiid tries too hard on the court sometimes.Joe K wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:50 amThat’s a pretty bad comp. The main issues with Howard are that he’s rubbed a lot of teammates the wrong way and that his effort has been inconsistent in the latter part of his career. I don’t think you anyone could say either of those things about Embiid. By all accounts, his teammates love him and he played his ass off on the court. And while I don’t fault Kawhi for he’s handling his injury issues this year, is Embiid expressing frustration about *not* returning from an injury quickly really going to bother Philly fans, coaches or execs?
Also, All-NBA caliber players are really hard to find! If you have one who’s 24 years old and under contract for several more years, they can do whatever the hell they want on social media.Avram wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:02 amAbsolutely. As far as I can tell, there is pretty good chemistry on this team, and they all get along well. If anything, Embiid tries too hard on the court sometimes.Joe K wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:50 amThat’s a pretty bad comp. The main issues with Howard are that he’s rubbed a lot of teammates the wrong way and that his effort has been inconsistent in the latter part of his career. I don’t think you anyone could say either of those things about Embiid. By all accounts, his teammates love him and he played his ass off on the court. And while I don’t fault Kawhi for he’s handling his injury issues this year, is Embiid expressing frustration about *not* returning from an injury quickly really going to bother Philly fans, coaches or execs?
Howard is 100% a Hall of Famer. Although the way the game is played has somewhat passed him by, he was first-team All-NBA five years in a row, made second or third team 3 other times, and has 3 DPOY awards. That’s easily enough to make him a lock.