Official 2015-2016 NBA Regular Season Thread
 

I don't believe this thread has been started yet, so here you go.

Good start to the season, key guys appear to be relatively healthy. As a basketball fan, good to see the Thunder back at full strength, as a Grizzlies fan notsomuch.

The West is just so deep, hard to figure out who comes out on that side. If the Cavs stay healthy, hard to imagine they don't represent the East.

If we have a group interested in a fantasy basketball league, I'd be happy to set it up.

Predictions :

West

1. Warriors
2. Thunder
3. Spurs
4. Clippers
5. Rockets
6. Grizzlies
7. Jazz
8. Pelicans

East

1. Cavs
2. Bulls
3. Hawks
4. Wizards
5. Heat
6. Bucks
7. Raptors
8. Celtics

Warriors vs. Thunder in WCF, Thunder in 7
Cavs vs. Hawks in ECF, Cavs in 6

Thunder vs. Cavs in Finals, Cavs in 7

Are you a Thunder fan? Has anyone on the board been down to OKC and watched a game? Id love to make the trip, just wondering thoughts on the experience.

I've been watching some but obviously still much more on baseball.

It's good to see Billy Donovan understand that it's awesome that KD and Russ to score 40 a piece to carry the Thunder to a win it's not good for the long haul. However the shots they took were pretty good for the most part. The defensive intensity was garbage in the first half but they didn't pick it up when it counted. Ibaka was soft last night, and got his ass sat as a result.Kanter made a couple of nice defensive plays in critical minutes which was nice to see.

They don't look comfortable in the offense or defense yet and are making a lot of mistakes. They still survived both games with wins against a good Spurs team, and i actually think Orlando might not be bad. As long as they stick with it I think they'll have as good of a chance as anyone if healthy.

Houston looks like dog shit so far. I don't expect them to continue it, but I didn't like the Ty Lawson fit for them. Harden isn't as good as a traditional 2. He needs the ball. You are better off staggering their minutes, and having Lawson play off the ball when they play together IMO.

I hated the Clippers enough. Add on Pierce, Lance, and Josh Smith it might be the most unlikable team in the history of sports. I echo Boogie's sentiments.

The Pelicans are ****ed this year. They're more injured than the Wolves were last year.

Anthony Davis and a bunch of dogshit would be able to fly okay in the East. Not in the West.

You heard it here. The Pelicans will not make the playoffs.

I've got season tickets but I'm moving to Arizona for at least a few years. It's a great experience. I'm keeping them because I can make money selling them, and I can come visit during the playoffs. There are a lot of games I know I'll get around face value that I'll sell for face. I pretty much know what those will be at this point. As long as it's not Cavs, Golden State, Spurs or Clippers I'd probably do $15 a seat for CP members if they wanna go. I've got 4 seats in the cheap seats. So if you want to come see the Grizz Kevin let me know.

Sucks the Bulls lost to the ****ing Pistons last night.

Steph Curry is still a beast

S'go Cavs!

Would love to, if you have an extra ticket my son would like to come as well. He's a Grizz fan mainly because of me and we've been to a few games there, but he has pics of Durant/Westbrook hanging in his room, and he has a Westbrook Christmas Day jersey from a couple of years ago (so frankly, I'm not sure who he'd be rooting for :) ).

Cavs are looking good. Love doing so well reminds me of why I'm still sour on the Love trade. He's better when he's shooting in volume. It seemed like they finally figured out how to make the big 3 work together in Boston, but I'm still a little nervous about how Love plays when kyrie gets back. Either that or Love turning into a hippie has turned his game around.

Damn, Karl Anthony Towns is legit. Love how he attacks the rim.

Glad you started this thread Kev. I was going to if no one else was but was waiting until the Royals season was over.

There have been some great early games and OKC and GSW look like the early favorites to win it all.

I didn't feel this way last year. But if the Cavs stay mostly healthy, they'll be really tough to beat.

Sure thing.

It looks like they only play them once this year here on 1/6. I have 4 tickets but if you only need 2 I'll get you those. They started this thing where you can only transfer digital the week before the game, but if you want to PM me your address I can mail you the physical tickets. Either way they are yours if you want them.

Steph Curry is good and the Warriors just finished rolling the Pelicans in New Orleans, a night after kicking the shit out of the Rockets in Houston.

As you said if they stay healthy. Lebron is feeling his age with the new revelation about how bad his back is. I feel it is between the Cavs and Bulls for the East. No one else is really that good.

I know most people will disagree with this but I think Curry is the best player in the league right now.

They will disagree with because you are wrong. He's the best shooter I've ever seen for sure. Hell of a player no doubt. LeBron all day.

The guy who is pushing his way up is Kawhi Leonard. That guy is a ****ing beast on both sides

Pelicans ****ing suck right now.

Anthony Davis is not yet Lebron James. His entire team is injured beyond belief, but he's not able to make them respectable by himself when that happens.

They are really beat up and he's still a baby. Plus they've played the Warriors twice so that doesn't help.

Pelicans have a bunch of starters and key bench guys that seem to have a history of often being injured or banged up.

Lebrons gap of being top dog is not that much.... with westbrook,davis,curry, and durant in the wings

Even if they don't stay healthy, they'll easily win the East. I mean, they won the East and almost beat Golden State without Love and Kyrie. That's a perfect storm. Now add on to that having Varejao, Mo Williams, and Jefferson. While Mo and Jefferson are limited, they're badly needed depth behind Lebron and Kyrie that they never had last year. If 2 of the big 3 stay healthy, Cavs are going to be tough to beat. I actually think they're better when they're down 1 of those guys.

Lebron is going to be less Lebron this year, I think. His back is a bit of an issue.

He is having at least for now a Larry Bird type of back thing...

Curry start make me wonder if he has another level from even last year.

Curry has so much impact on the offensive end, I think he's closer to the top than you do.

He's a top player, but he's not the best player. You could argue he's better than anyone except for Lebron. You think he's the best player in the league? Of course you don't :)

There are several guys behind Lebron you can make cases for the 2nd best player. The comment was the best player. LeBron and a bunch of guys weren't that far from beating the Warriors last year. You could definately say Curry is the best offensive player. Best player? Non-sense.

I haven't even see the Cavs play yet. If Lebron has back problems then the title could be up for grabs. If its an issue I'd just rest him for a few months.

I think Lebron is on the downside of his career and isn't dominating games like he used to. Curry is flat out dominating now going on 2 seasons.

I realize Curry won't keep up his current scoring pace but if he stays fairly close to it, stays healthy and wins the title again I don't see how there could be much discussion. Long season though.

Durant is still #2 behind LeBron.

Lebron was as dominant as any player I've ever seen in the Finals last year. That's the last meaningful games that were played. Even if there are plenty of guys right there with Curry. I'd have to at least see how this season plays out first.

The gap between those and others might be closer now.

People have forgot about him. I like it. Keep making the chip on his shoulder bigger.

Same thoughts here. Lebron is still the top player until it plays out otherwise.

Fair point.

Nerdy to say, but I love seeing more and more props for 2-way players. Kawhi, Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler. All excellent players on both ends.

Curry is good on the defensive end....

As long as Lebron stays healthy then I think you are correct. I do like all the solid depth they have added. Hopefully they can keep Lebron's minutes down this year.

I hope so too. I'm not as critical of blatt as most, but I wonder how much of LeBron and Kyrie's insane number of minutes was due to poor rotations or blatt just not trusting his depth. I really hope it's the latter.

Some of both. Not like though he had alot of choices. When Irving gets back there is no reason for Dellavedova to see the court again.

I don't mind Delly. But he shouldn't be playing PG. And he shouldn't play more than 10 minutes a game. If you limit him to his role, he has value. I've always thought Varejao was the same way (although a much better player than Delly).

He's not bad but he's limited by his size with today's NBA point guards. Golden State has a great team defense concept. He's not a liabilty, but he's not a great one on one defender either. In fairness, neither are a lot of the guys grouped there with him. I don't think those guys are separated by a lot though. LeBron is by far the best individual player as of last year. The next person to grab that baton will most likely be AD.

I'm not taking anything away from Curry. He's a fantastic player and is as fun as anyone to watch. He's the best shooter I've ever seen. It may not even be out of the question that he is the best player if Lebron is limited by injury. To me it's going to be a group of guys that aren't separated by much and you can makes cases for each. To me it doesn't matter because it's subjective anyway. I only care about the best team, and last year that was Curry and Golden State.

Haven't watched any basketball yet this year, but

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE! Tim, Tony &amp; Manu just became the Winningest Trio in <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA">@NBA</a> history with 541 wins together! <a href="https://t.co/x4pRH4O0KS">pic.twitter.com/x4pRH4O0KS</a></p>&mdash; San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) <a href="https://twitter.com/spurs/status/660953445248008192">November 1, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Grizz looking a lot like a team that knows it's window closed last year. Word that some guys came into camp out of shape (Gasol among others), getting older, etc. Two ugly, ugly losses to the Cavs and W's so far this year.

Gasol better get healthy or it's going to be a long year for Memphis. That was ugly tonight.

lol

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7nRYAsr7ALg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LeBron is taking it a little easy. He will be ready to go into beast mode for the playoffs though. Can't wait to get Kyrie and Shump back though!

I'm also interested in the Bulls, just not when they are playing Cleveland. In hindsight I wish he would have accepted the Cavs job when it was offered to him... And he would have had he known they were landing James and Love(as anybody would have).

Who?

The Bulls coach? Fred Hoiberg?

The Dubs cruising so far...

Warriors have 74 at the half against the Nuggets...

Big ****ing KAT is really really ****ing good.

He's going to be a jaw-droppingly incredible NBA player.

Pacers with PG, GHill, and Monta Ellis should make the playoffs in the east. Although, I fully admit I'm a Pacer fan.

The Thunders rotations have been worse this year than previous years. The first few games there was ball movement at the end. The last 4 back to the bad habits of 2 guys jacking up shots. The biggest issue I see is Andre Roberson isn't a NBA player. You don't have to guard him, and he's not a very good defender either. I know Presti has this vision of him being a younger Thabo, but it's not there. Waiters and Morrow should be playing all the minutes there until you can swing a trade. Morrow should be starting because he'll get open looks with KD and Westbrook on the floor. You can't move the ball when there is one guy that can't shoot. Defense can be fixed when they figure out a scheme.

Westbrook and Durant need to focus more on the defensive end and learn to trust team mates in these regular season games. If they don't they'll be 2 spectacular players that won't win a title in OKC or anywhere else.

The only hope is that Donovan can change the shit Brooks couldn't. It's pretty evident Presti has a cookie cutter formula that isn't matched up very well with today's NBA.

FIX IT BITCHES!

Ugh Waiters is a human wasteland. Theres really no need for a player like him on a team with both Westbrook & Durant. His eyes light up whenever there is an expiring shot clock so he can go launch a horrible brick.

I feel a bit different about it, but not strong enough to debate....

WEST

1. Warriors
2. Spurs
3. Rockets
4. Clippers
5. Thunder
6. Grizz
7. Jazz
8. Pelicans


EAST

1. Cavs
2. Hawks
3. Bulls
4. Wizards

Too hard after that and it's not gonna matter.

WCF - Warriors over Spurs
ECF - Cavs over Hawks

NBA Finals Warriors over Cavs ( Again)

Pelicans are so bad its like Fat Scott built that terrible roster of crap talent around a really, really good player that's basically playing 1 on 5 every night.

They need to make a move there in my opinion. You package Novak and his expiring with a future pick and you can get a good player. However, he's a better defender than Roberson and hasn't shot a lot this season. You do at least have to account for him. Roberson is one of the worst starters in the league and teams just start playing 5 on 4.

They're injured as all ****, but yeah. They're a huge mess.

These young Wolves are fun to watch. Incredibly deep team. Be interesting to see if they can get pieces in a deal for Pek.

The Hawks have come back from 34 points down to tie the Wolves with 4 minutes to go in the 4th. That's an all timer if they can pull this off.

So you're saying the Wolves may not be quite ready yet.

Wiggins having one of the better games in his short career tonight, though.

I don't know what we could even get for Pek. Would be nice to have some PG depth so we don't have to use LaVine there. LaVine has the potential to play 2 in the NBA, but not point. The learning curve is just so ****ing steep for him if he wants to play point.

I've been really impressed with Bjelica, but he's not a good long-term option as a starter. They need to figure shit out pretty soon when KG calls it quits this season. There is just no way he can go another year after this one. He should have retired after last season, but Flip (RIP) likely pressured him to go one more even if he would be a sad sack in terms of production.

I've also been screaming at Mitchell to stop using Tayshaun Prince so much. He is by far the worst starter in the league right now.

I know that Pek, given his contract and injury problems won't command much, but we've gotta get something out of him. He's simply not a part of the future, and anything more off the bench especially at SF or PG would be dandy.

stupid cavs.

If you're not watching him right now, you probably will be very soon even if you're just a casual fan of basketball. Karl Anthony-Towns is legit. He's by far the biggest difference from last year to this year. He's the reason why the Wolves are winning with defense and is already a key cog in our ball movement (he had 2 crucial assists in the win against the Bulls).

There were casual Wolves fans who said it didn't really matter if we got the #1 overall pick because there'd be a player available who could help the team no matter what. Bull ****ing shit. The pre-draft reports were absolutely correct. Okafor will never be the player that KAT is. The Wolves NEEDED him if they had plans to stop the past 10 years of sucking ass, and now that they've got him, they'll be a playoff team very soon. Maybe not this year, but probably the next.

I think they'll take Kevin Love for the next 5 years on their championship contender over (what is still right now) just raw talent/potential.

Yep, Towns is much, much better defensively than Okafor. He basically carried that Kentucky team on his back on both ends.

Yep, he's a stud. Skill, athleticism and tenacity. Tough to come by in a guy that big. Will be fun to watch he and Drummond develop.

I am 100% with you. I did not realize how good he was off the dribble and attacking the basket.

My dream is seeing Embiid somehow end up there and healthy, as he would be an amazing counterpart to KAT. But I will settle for him coming to the Lakers. :D

A) I don't think it's raw talent or potential. At all. There is legit skill and he is MAYBE two years away from straight dominating competition. Probably sooner, as there are so few SG who can do what he does physically and his skills are quickly rising to match the athletic ability. By the way, anyone who thinks he doesn't have killer instinct doesn't know what to look for, and his skills are improving by the minute.

B) The problem with the entire Love trade for me is that it was short-sighted. They could have had 90% of Love's production for a fraction of the cost. I always thought setting sights on a player like Al Jefferson would have been so much more team-friendly and would have kept a future MVP on the roster for when Lebron ages into a far less dominant role over the next 2-3 years.

The Cavs panicked, plain and simple.

On a related note, Paul Milsap is a grown ass man.

He has been horrendous statistically so far in his career (13.7 PER, 0.031 WS/48 rate, -0.4 VORP, -2.5 BPM). He's very raw in many areas and has a number of very obvious flaws still. None of this isn't to say he couldn't have a breakout down the line (I would give him until at least his 4th year to do so), but he would not help anywhere near as much as Kevin Love any time soon in LeBron's quest to win another title.


They just wanted to win now instead of later, so they added an elite player. When you have a 30 year old LeBron on your team who only has so many years left on top, that makes some sense. And if they had him healthy instead of just LeBron + scrubs against the Warriors, they very well could have won it all just last year.

I don't know why Marc Gasol keeps playing when he's nowhere near 100%.

As great as it is watching these young college studs in the NBA play nightly, the Townes, Wiggins, Okafor, Noel, etc they still can't win and it is going to take years, a good GM and maybe even a team change for them to find winning success. NBA is a veterans league and veterans who have a higher basketball IQ and a more polished game will come in a smoke them. Like Paul Millsap, he came in tonight and just showed them young kids how to win a game. That's all the veteran teams do in the NBA. You just need so much pro experience in the NBA before you "get it." It's so different from the other sports in that regard. You're never going to see a rookie make a splash in the playoffs or finals on a frequent basis.

It takes forever and it's why the same teams win. It's also why it was really refreshing to see a new franchise like Golden State put itself on the map last season. I hope more of that happens.

Uhh... Paul Millsap lost the game tonight. He didn't show the young kids shit.