2018 NBA Catch-All - LeBron Fallout Edition

Was watching it last night. Looked bad when it happened. A real shame. He did it after throwing down a dunk on Giannis and landed a bit off balance and the leg buckled.

Later in the game, Giannis had the dunk of the year and one to rank among the all-timers. Jumped over Tim Hardaway Jr. on an alley-oop. He makes it look so effortless that you can easily miss that he fully cleared a 6'6" defender. The still frame of how far he was from the rim when he received the ball make it even more incredible. Such a joy to watch him every game. Not too shabby for a guy playing on two bum ankles.
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Best part though? John McEnroe's reaction. Priceless.

That Wikipedia entry...

That should win the dunk contest

So...it's been an interesting trade day for Cleveland.

Rat Boy wrote:

So...it's been an interesting trade day for Cleveland.

Yeah, holy cow. I guess Cleveland got better for this year?

Maybe? Probably?

They couldn't have got worse!

Out:
Thomas, Crowder, Frye, Rose, Shumpert, Wade, 1st, 2nd, and 2.1m in cash

In:
Clarkson, Nance Jr., Hood, Hill, and a heavily protected 2nd

Thomas and Crowder should have been excellent (Crowder more than Thomas give his injury) but could not fit in at all. Hill, Hood, Clarkson, and Nance Jr. are nowhere near those two at peak but have a floor that the others couldn't even reach.

So they traded Kyrie for basically a pick swap with their 1st round pick and Brooklyn's 1st round pick, and a couple of bench players? What a disaster. I feel bad for Thomas and Crowder.

Zach Lowe referenced the famous Pete Campbell (Mad Men) quote in reference to the outcome of what they ultimately got for Irving.

That feels about right. I think they did the best they could under the circumstances. Ultimately, though, they would have been best served by never letting it get to this point. LeBron's distrust of Gilbert and the year to year commitment to the team obviously makes it hard to build around him.

There's a world where they could have worked harder to keep Irving if they were willing to risk letting LeBron walk. Which is always hanging over their head anyway.

I love the city of Portland, but there has to be some serious "guilt by association" going on right now.

Once the Cavs struck out on Bledsoe and Paul George for Irving, keeping him made the most sense.

Cavs looked good today, or maybe Boston just looked bad. I expected Boston to blowout the Cavs since it was an established team against a team in basically their first game together. Of course the Cavs won't usually shoot 54% either.

Every time I watch a Raptors game, or miss a game and check the box score/game tracker on NBA.com it seems to go like this:

Starters play it close.
Raptors bench blows things open.
Starters come back in, keep things mostly the same
Raptors bench extends the lead.
Closing lineups keep things close.

It's fun to watch but I can't see how that's going to work in the playoffs when the opposition will be playing their bench much less.

Yup. The 1-2 year window is wide open for that team. If Milwaukee can't do it, Toronto is my team to pull for.

DSGamer wrote:

You’re not kidding

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanc...

Weird, a league website where they present advanced stats in a useful way. That's so much different than the NHL bringing in SAP to invent new acronyms for everything and then leaving the data riddled with errors.

I guess at least by net rating the starting unit is better than my impression of them. Looking through the lineups and I can't help but feel bad for Norman Powell, he's gone from a starter to 11th or 12th man in the rotation. But he already has his new contract so at least he has financial security going forward.

Roke wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

You’re not kidding

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanc...

Weird, a league website where they present advanced stats in a useful way. That's so much different than the NHL bringing in SAP to invent new acronyms for everything and then leaving the data riddled with errors.

I guess at least by net rating the starting unit is better than my impression of them. Looking through the lineups and I can't help but feel bad for Norman Powell, he's gone from a starter to 11th or 12th man in the rotation. But he already has his new contract so at least he has financial security going forward.

Actually it backs you up unless I’m misreading it. If you sort by minutes (for meaningful lineups) the 3rd lineup has a much higher net rating than the starting lineup. Unless that’s not the main backup unit.

That is the main back-up and are probably best in the league. They are astonishingly good. It’s basucally the Raptors have an incredibly young and deep team. Casey has been known to fiddle with his “starting unit” by the third quarter. Typically it’s running a two-pg set swapping out OG for FvV or Wright.

The last three games the Raptors bench has been dominant while the starters faultered. Against the Hornets, however, it was just the first few minutes were they got down 10-0 early and climbed back. They were dominant after the first 5 minutes.

I actually think the Raptors have a real shot at the Finals. Don’t have a realistic chance, barring injuries, in a series against the Rockets or Warriors but they are a very fun team to watch and cheer for. Lots of great stories and a very closely bonded team. Even Casey and Ujiri have the same qualities as the team.

Vector wrote:

I actually think the Raptors have a real shot at the Finals. Don’t have a realistic chance, barring injuries, in a series against the Rockets or Warriors but they are a very fun team to watch and cheer for. Lots of great stories and a very closely bonded team. Even Casey and Ujiri have the same qualities as the team.

100% agree with all of this. Their players seem to draw a lot of fouls which can be annoying but smart and effective. They put pressure on the opponents to defend as a group, which many teams do not have the discipline to do. The concern is when playoffs come around and the long series allow for a shortening of the benches, can they compete as effectively when opponent's starters are playing increased minutes, due to the long series and extended breaks.

DSGamer wrote:
Roke wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

You’re not kidding

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanc...

Weird, a league website where they present advanced stats in a useful way. That's so much different than the NHL bringing in SAP to invent new acronyms for everything and then leaving the data riddled with errors.

I guess at least by net rating the starting unit is better than my impression of them. Looking through the lineups and I can't help but feel bad for Norman Powell, he's gone from a starter to 11th or 12th man in the rotation. But he already has his new contract so at least he has financial security going forward.

Actually it backs you up unless I’m misreading it. If you sort by minutes (for meaningful lineups) the 3rd lineup has a much higher net rating than the starting lineup. Unless that’s not the main backup unit.

Sorry DSGamer, I wasn't clear. I meant that while that bench unit is fantastic the starters actually look better than my impression of them, at least by net rating.

Roke wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
Roke wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

You’re not kidding

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanc...

Weird, a league website where they present advanced stats in a useful way. That's so much different than the NHL bringing in SAP to invent new acronyms for everything and then leaving the data riddled with errors.

I guess at least by net rating the starting unit is better than my impression of them. Looking through the lineups and I can't help but feel bad for Norman Powell, he's gone from a starter to 11th or 12th man in the rotation. But he already has his new contract so at least he has financial security going forward.

Actually it backs you up unless I’m misreading it. If you sort by minutes (for meaningful lineups) the 3rd lineup has a much higher net rating than the starting lineup. Unless that’s not the main backup unit.

Sorry DSGamer, I wasn't clear. I meant that while that bench unit is fantastic the starters actually look better than my impression of them, at least by net rating.

No worries. I just don’t follow the Raptors enough to know if that’s their actual backup unit or not, especially given the games played number. (Thanks also for the clarification, Vector).

Worse, while I’m enough of an NBA geek to go look up advanced metrics for the Raptors I’m too lazy to go find out which rotations they currently use.

I should check them out more. It would be nice to see someone break the Team-LeBron-Plays-For stranglehold on the East. I also really like what DeRozan has done this year.

Their entire rotation (until OG got injured tonight) was pretty simple:

Starters:
JV
Ibaka
OG Anuoby
DeRozan
Lowry

Second Unit:
Poeltl
Siakam
Miles
Fred VanVleet
Wright

Fill-In:
Powell
Noguira

With OG getting injured Powell will slip back into the starting spot. Wright, FVV, and Miles occasionally take that spot depending on how OG/Powell is playing.

They are a very fun team. 1 rookie starter, 4 2nd and 3rd years on the second unit. 9 of the guys listed were developed by the Raptors while Lowry has become the heart and reached his potential there.

DeRozan has been a lot of fun. He was insanely frustrating for so long but had such a great personality and commitment to the team (openly talking about staying in Toronto and surpassing Carter as the player people associate with the franchise) has made everyone cheer for him. He’s finally comfortable taking a three and passing. Looks like an elite player and worth his contract.

So last night they had college color commentators call some NBA games. I didn't get to hear Walton call his game, but listening to Vitale do his schtick for two hours was excruciating.

Trophy Husband wrote:

So last night they had college color commentators call some NBA games. I didn't get to hear Walton call his game, but listening to Vitale do his schtick for two hours was excruciating.

Yeah they did the switch last year too and it was awful for both games

Vitale? They booted him off of games last year I thought. The sad thing is that he was quite good way back in the 80s and early (very early) 90s before he went all schtick, no substance, suck up mode.

Raptors go into the All-Star break with a 2 game lead in the East, both starting guards as All-Stars, and Casey as a head coach in the All-Star game. The Raptors and Casey finally learned how to pass, shoot threes, defend, and score without sacrificing anything. If they can maintain this will be the best season in Raptors history and should be the favourite* to come out of the East.

*Damn you LeBron James!

Just when I think Thon Maker cannot get any worse, he plays another game of basketball to prove me wrong.

17 minutes played; -20 plus-minus. Tyler freaking Zeller for the Bucks: 30 minutes, +9.

Jokic went for a 30/15/17 Trip Dub, missing only 3 shots total.

This on a night that Denver shot 24/40 from 3 point range. Somehow, even a mediocre performance at Center for those 17 minutes would have remarkably given the Bucks a shot in an 11 point loss. They miss John Henson badly (just threw up in my mouth a little). Will Sampson, the actor who played Chief in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, would have done a better job in those 17 minutes, and he died over 30 years ago.

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So...apparently Fergie butchered the national anthem.

Let's make some basketball indeed -_- holy crap that was awful.

Jimmy Kimmel was smiling like his monologue tomorrow night was writing itself.