2020 NBA Catch-All: Offseason

I was exhausted last night and went to bed at halftime. Kind of regretting it.

This is fun though: https://twitter.com/gourmetspud/stat...

@gourmetspud
Yeah, no way Kawhi was winning a title his first year with a team.
@highkin
Paul George: "Internally, we've always felt this isn't a championship of bust year for us. We didn't have enough time together."

It's easy to dunk on Kawhi now but I've never understood that guy's thinking. Worked his way out of SA with a universally liked Popp? Worked his way out of TOR with a universally liked team/coach/culture/community?

Is he just disagreeable/Contrarian Guy who sees the grass as always greener?

He doesn't appear to want an off-court presence (am I wrong here?), so why is LA so attractive besides the hometown stuff? Maybe his thinking is that he wants to cement an on-court legacy as the guy, the ONLY guy, to put the Clips on the map. That's certainly a go big or go home goal. He was one bad fourth quarter (in three tries!) of getting them to their first WCF where they'd be favored to win it all and he gets 3 rings with 3 teams.

We getting a new Baby Stephen A. Smith video out of this?

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/IY8hs9b.png)

Top_Shelf wrote:

It's easy to dunk on Kawhi now but I've never understood that guy's thinking. Worked his way out of SA with a universally liked Popp? Worked his way out of TOR with a universally liked team/coach/culture/community?

I don't think many people know what Kawhi likes or if he even likes basketball. There's a long-running joke that he would rather have been a doctor, but he got forced into basketball. Who even knows.

I think most of the dunking should be reserved for the Clippers for spending so much to get this outcome, personally. I assume the Clippers will be fine when they have some time to gel.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Steve Ballmer approach to leadership not working out.

Contrast his "leadership" at MSFT with how well Nadella has been running things. Boomers gonna Boom it.

Miami continues to look really impressive. They came out of the time off much better than when the season stopped. I wonder what they did with the time off that other teams didn’t do.

I heard an interesting comment about Miami on the Windhorst podcast, which was that Pat Riley loves the military, and runs his organization like a military outfit. And the Orlando Bubble is basically like boot camp, which is that organization's dream. So it is not surprising that Miami is thriving in this environment.

Not sure what they did during the time off though, but I suspect it was very disciplined?

Denver-Miami finals... lets go!

LeapingGnome wrote:

Miami continues to look really impressive. They came out of the time off much better than when the season stopped. I wonder what they did with the time off that other teams didn’t do.

If the Canadian government had actually had "measures in place to prevent onward-spread from travel-related cases" back in February and March instead of saying they did the Raptors would have had a big advantage. Instead Siakam didn't touch a basketball for 2 months

So.

Uh.....

Tyler Herro.

Where is the ceiling on this dude, because.... whoa.

The crazy thing is how effortless it looked sometimes. Especially when he drove. My goodness.

Prederick wrote:

So.

Uh.....

Tyler Herro.

Where is the ceiling on this dude, because.... whoa.

I’ve read that scouts think Devin Booker but a better three point shooter and maybe defender.

Who would have thought coming into this season or into the bubble that Miami would be one game away from the Finals? I wouldn't have made that bet. Love the team though and how they all support each other and work together.

Heard them compared to the 04 Pistons, and I can totally see that. Jimmy Butler as Rasheed "I Told Y'all...Female Doggoes" Wallace.

After watching the Celtics struggle against an underperforming Raptors team, I was pretty convinced the Heat could win that series. Jimmy Butler is a mini-Kawhi in that he's fully committed to winning and, when surrounded by the right guys, teammates follow. Very similar to the Raptors last year and the Pistons in 04. They could even win the Larry OB. Lakers are a two man team and all the supporting players are either inconsistent or bad. Nuggets could actually be a tougher opponent given the strength of their role players and versatility of their offense.

I'm a sucker for the team > individual performers approach, so I'd love to see Miami win it all.

Top_Shelf wrote:

I'm a sucker for the team > individual performers approach, so I'd love to see Miami win it all.

As a lifelong Celtics fan I curse you.

But, I do agree that having a "Team First" team win the title would not only be entertaining, but also good for the league. I believe an alternative to the "Superteam" mentality is needed and seeing the Raptors win last year and the Heat this year would help guide other teams in that direction.

I keep telling myself that but here are the non-super winners of the last 43 years:

19 Raptors
11 Mavs
04 Pistons
79 Sonics
77 Blazers

It's easy to forget, and I agree with them not being a super team, that Mavs team had two hall of famers on it. They also had my favourite grouping of mid-to-late career All-Stars in Chandler, Stojakovic, Marrion, and Butler.

Do the Spurs count as a super team? All their key players were developed in-house or smart role player signings.

Are you talking about teams with no superstars or few superstars or teams that weren't jammed together?

I would make a second list of teams that were organically built, personally. I don't consider the 91 - 93 Bulls to be "Super Teams". Most of their key players were drafted and the players came of age together, building a team culture.

Similarly, most of the Spurs teams played good team basketball and were composed largely of players that were drafted and coached to play in a specific system.

Vector wrote:

It's easy to forget, and I agree with them not being a super team, that Mavs team had two hall of famers on it. They also had my favourite grouping of mid-to-late career All-Stars in Chandler, Stojakovic, Marrion, and Butler.

Do the Spurs count as a super team? All their key players were developed in-house or smart role player signings.

I was thinking the same thing. How about the Bulls of the 90's? MJ was drafted, Pippen traded for as an unknown, and the rest of the supporting cast, barring Rodman if you consider him "Super", were mid level players or lesser. I know they are considered a powerhouse team because of MJ, but they were not constructed with the same mentality that most Super Teams are built.

DSGamer wrote:

Are you talking about teams with no superstars or few superstars or teams that weren't jammed together?

Teams that were Jammed together with super stars for the sake of winning a title. If Khris Middleton ended up becoming a Superstar player and won a title with Giannis, that wouldn't be a super team. Teams that play cohesive basketball and forgo the super team mentality. Yes, they may have a superstar on the team but it wasn't constructed solely for the purpose of having the "Stars" win them a title...**Wink Wink** Lakers or any LBJ team after his rookie stint in Cleveland.

blackanchor wrote:
Vector wrote:

It's easy to forget, and I agree with them not being a super team, that Mavs team had two hall of famers on it. They also had my favourite grouping of mid-to-late career All-Stars in Chandler, Stojakovic, Marrion, and Butler.

Do the Spurs count as a super team? All their key players were developed in-house or smart role player signings.

I was thinking the same thing. How about the Bulls of the 90's? MJ was drafted, Pippen traded for as an unknown, and the rest of the supporting cast, barring Rodman if you consider him "Super", were mid level players or lesser. I know they are considered a powerhouse team because of MJ, but they were not constructed with the same mentality that most Super Teams are built.

The first 3-peat were organically built through smart trades, signings, and development. I look at the second 3-peat is more complicated because of acquiring Rodman. He was pariah at that point and was given away by the Spurs, though.

Top_Shelf's original list is more a list of one-off winners that didn't make big free agent or trade splashes (and the Raptors certainly did but it was for an injured player that wasn't thrilled with going there). A lot of those teams broke the mold by either having one superstar and were very deep. It's far more difficult to compare this with teams before the inclusion of the salary cap. The league was just completely different then.

The Lakers seem crazy to try to go up 3-1 on Denver. That's the kiss of death this playoffs.

Stele wrote:

The Lakers seem crazy to try to go up 3-1 on Denver. That's the kiss of death this playoffs.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eikfxp6VoAA4sAc?format=jpg&name=medium)

Exactly!

And Murray with highlight reel layups tonight

That 3rd quarter run. We got a game

Well, that Nuggets run was fun while it lasted. They’ll be a good team for a while, probably.

Good narratives to either Finals matchup. Celtics v. Lakers is ... well, duh.

Miami v. LeBron is actually more interesting to me, with LeBron leaving the team with some animosity 6 years ago. I’d bet he did not expect them to be back this early.

I’m hoping for Miami as well. I think they also have the best shot at giving the Lakers some trouble.

I think the Celts have a better matchup but I want me some 04 Finals where the big swinging Lakers go down to the scrappy team of hard workers! Go Heat!