• Registration is disabled due to constant spammers. Email [email protected] and we will temporarily re-enable registration for you.

2018-2109 LAME

evil1

Well-Known Member
Everyone who had the Nuggets, Thunder and Clippers as the top 3 teams the West, please raise your hands.
 

OU11

Pleighboi
Utopia Moderator
maxresdefault.jpg
 

NML

Well-Known Member
The telling stories in the west so far have been:

- Draymond might actually be really important to what GS does. He might be the second most important player for them? Ultimately he’ll get healthy and they’ll win around 60 games, but it’s an interesting dynamic and I’m not sure he got enough credit.

- For Denver, I feel like Jokic is getting a lot of attention, but his offensive game hasn’t really changed or improved. Offensively, they are mostly the same team. It’s defensively where they’ve made massive strides. Hard to pin point exactly where that’s coming from, but we are past just small sample size luck (although they’ll likely regress some, but might still be top ten?).

- the team that’s most likely to tumble is LAC. Maybe Gallinari is going to have a career year at 30, but I doubt it. I’m also assuming BOBAN won’t shoot 70% all season long. Harris has also cleaned up his game. That’s a lot of things going right. I’m just not sure this is the fifth best offensive team in the NBA.

- Houston is interesting, too. Why has Dantoni suddenly slowed the pace way down? Why did Capela stop playing defense? Was Ariza the glue holding that team together?

- The resurgence by Conley and Gasol is pretty cool. My guess is it’s about half that they underachieved last year and about half that it’s the first part of the season and their legs aren’t heavy yet

- Most of the other teams are about where you’d expect. OKC maybe doing slightly better? Haven’t seen enough of them to really say. Lakers, Blazers, Minny, NO, and Utah are all around the same level.

Should be a fun ride the rest of the way. Or at least I imagine it will be until I think about how it’s actually all irrelevant because Warriors in five
 

Wuf

Desensitized and Willing
I think Nuggz narrowly missing the playoffs again was a blessing in disguise for the team to wise up and the defensive transformation has been pretty incredible. As long as the offense is facilitated through Jokic I don't think it's necessary for him to put up 20+ points every game, offense is at its best when they're going with the flow. They will have a few more bad stretches but team seems resilient enough to survive them.
 

Reel

Off dem Milds and dat Yak
Community Liaison
@Wuf, my apologies my man, i wasnt talking about Denver, but i can see how you may have interpreted my comments that way b/c i left out a few words that could've added more context

I was making a general statement about the west as a whole.
 

Wuf

Desensitized and Willing
You're good, I just wanted to make it clear that my expectations are realistic and there's no reason to blow a load 24 games into the NBA regular season
 

silverwheels

PLAY LA BAMBA BABY
It's only ~1/4 of the way through the season but I'm encouraged by OKC so far. They're winning games they wouldn't have last year and the bench has been a big part of that. Schroeder was a huge get. Adams is earning the extension he signed a couple of years ago. George has settled in. Grant and Abrines have shown quite a bit of improvement. We'll see how it holds up the rest of the way.
 

OU11

Pleighboi
Utopia Moderator
It's only ~1/4 of the way through the season but I'm encouraged by OKC so far. They're winning games they wouldn't have last year and the bench has been a big part of that. Schroeder was a huge get. Adams is earning the extension he signed a couple of years ago. George has settled in. Grant and Abrines have shown quite a bit of improvement. We'll see how it holds up the rest of the way.

Presti traded 2017 Carmelo for Schroeder. That's about as big of an upgrade as you can get outside of landing Lebrin in the summer. The defense is already nasty without Roberson, if he comes back and can get anywhere near where he was pre-knee then they opponents will probably average 88 points on them
 

evil1

Well-Known Member
I think Nuggz narrowly missing the playoffs again was a blessing in disguise for the team to wise up and the defensive transformation has been pretty incredible. As long as the offense is facilitated through Jokic I don't think it's necessary for him to put up 20+ points every game, offense is at its best when they're going with the flow. They will have a few more bad stretches but team seems resilient enough to survive them.
This. Last year the Nuggets were a top 10 team offensively and a bottom 10 team defensively, which pretty much averages out to be a middle of the pack team. A common critique for the Nuggets after they missed the playoffs was don't tell us how they are going to try to improve on offense, tell us how they are going to try to improve on defense. Apparently the coaching staff took that to heart.
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
The spurs suck but this has easily been a more enjoyable season as a whole to watch.

Having FUN watching Denver, the clippers, and even hateable OKC. I can’t wait for Roberson to get back, and PG is my favorite 2k player so he the GOAT to me to me.

Haven’t watched a lot of the rockets, but Harden is averaging a fuck ton of turnovers per game.
 

NML

Well-Known Member
Process said he’s frustrated with his new role since Butler came over.

Not surprising, but I’m not sure what Brett Brown is suppose to do without any shooters. Embiid can stretch the court and, while it may make him less effective, I think it helps the Sixers overall - opening up space for Butler and Simmons to attack and clearing out the big man.

Even though he’s at his best clogging the lane, their offense becomes so stagnant because he’s not a great passer.
 

adchester

A-1 From Day 1
Process said he’s frustrated with his new role since Butler came over.

Not surprising, but I’m not sure what Brett Brown is suppose to do without any shooters. Embiid can stretch the court and, while it may make him less effective, I think it helps the Sixers overall - opening up space for Butler and Simmons to attack and clearing out the big man.

Even though he’s at his best clogging the lane, their offense becomes so stagnant because he’s not a great passer.
giphy.gif


Butler ruins team part 2 electric boogaloo?
 

Wuf

Desensitized and Willing
Gary Harris could be out 3-4 more weeks and Millsap broke his toe last night. Honeymoon's over!
 

kella

Low IQ fat ass with depression and anxiety
Staff member
Administrator
Operations
The Suns and Cavs are the only unwatchable teams to me to me
Please expand this list. The Wizards are losing to one of these teams by 20.
 

evil1

Well-Known Member
The Nuggets are now down three starters. Millsap out with broken toe. Gary Harris out 3-4 weeks with a hip injury. Will Barton still weeks away from returning after hip surgery. Given how little margin for error there is in the West, this could be the make or break part of the season for them.
 
Top